Please  Return  To; 
ROBERT  j .  BOSER 
3430  So.  Shoshone 
Englewood;   Colo. 


THE     CHALLENGE: 

THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  NEW 
WORLD  ORDER 


By 
Frederick  Lynch 


The  Challenge  :  The  Church  and  the 
New  World  Order.  I  zmo,  cloth,  net  $1.25 
A  forward  look  taken  by  a  man  who  is  regarded 
as  a  vigorous  and  liberal  thinker.  Dr.  Lynch 
contends  that,  with  the  coming  of  peace,  the 
Chmxh  will  be  faced  with  some  tremendous  and 
inevitable  problems  which  she  must  meet  with  a 
new  application  of  Christian  principles.  If  she 
fails,  the  world  will  look  elsewhere  for  solution 
and  readjustment. 

The  New  Opportunities  of  the  Min- 
istry. With  Introduction  by  Hugh  Black, 
M.  A.,  D.D.  izmo,  cloth  .  net  75c. 
"  A  veritable  book  for  the  times  and  call  to 
strong  young  men  for  the  future.  Dr.  Lynch 
makes  it  clear  that  the  very  things  which  make 
the  present  work  of  the  ministry  look  difficult,  as 
compared  with  the  past,  are  its  especial  warrant 
and  glory." — The  Continent. 

The  Peace  Problem.  The  Task  of  the 
Twentieth  Century.  Introduction  by  An- 
drew Carnegie net  75c. 

Andrew  Carnegie  commends  this  book  in  no 
stinted  terms.  "  I  have  read  this  book  from  be- 
ginning to  end  with  interest  and  proiit.  I  hope 
large  editions  will  be  circulated  by  our  peace 
organizations  among  those  we  can  interest  in  the 
noblest  of  all  causes." 


THE  CHALLENGE: 

THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  NEW 
WORLD    ORDER 


BY 

FREDERICK  LYNCH,  D.D. 

Author  of  "  New  Opportunities  of  the  MiniBtry," 

"What  Makes  a  Nation  Great?"  "The  Last 

War,"  etc.,  etc. 


New  York        Chicago        Toronto 

Fleming  H.  Revell  Company 

London        and        Edinburgh 


Copyright,  1916,  by 
FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 


New  York:  158  Fifth  Avenue 
Chicago:  17  N.  Wabash  Ave. 
Toronto:  25  Richmond  St.,  W. 
London:  21  Paternoster  Square 
Edinburgh:    100    Princes    Street 


DEDICATED  TO 

MRS.  ANDREW  CARNEGIE 

whose  Friendship  is  always  an  Inspiration  to 

High  Endeavour  and  to  the  Service 

of  Humanity 


PREFACE 

THIS  book  has  been  published  for  two 
reasons.  The  first  is  that  I  might  reach 
the  younger  clergy  of  the  country  and 
put  before  them  the  wonderful  opportunity  now  ^ 
facing  the  Christian  Church,  The  second  is 
that  the  only  way  to  meet  the  many  requests 
for  some  of  the  chapters  of  these  books  (all  of 
which  have  been  published  singly)  was  to 
gather  them  into  a  book.  Many  of  them, 
have  evoked  much  comment,  some  favourable, 
some  adverse.  But  they  have  evidently  stirred 
many  to  think  upon  the  grave  problems  and 
opportunities  now  facing  Christianity,  espe- 
cially as  it  is  embodied  in  the  Church, 

The  book  is  an  attempt  to  apply  the  teach- 
ings of  Jesus  to  the  international  problems  now 
facing  the  nations.  Such  a  cataclysm  as  this 
which  the  world  is  now  witnessing  must  make 
all  serious  men  pause  and  think.  Especially  for 
those  who  believe  that  Christianity  is  both  pos- 
sible and  potent  in  the  world,  these  are  perplex- 
ing days.  It  is  vain  and  dangerous  to  deny 
that  the  Church  is  on  trial  in  any  nation.  One 
has  only  to  read  the  papers,  the  books,  and  the 
letters  that  are  being  written  in  both  Europe 

5 


6  PREFACE 

and  America  to  realize  the  serious  questioning 
of  the  power  of  the  Church  to  redeem  the 
world,  that  is  going  on  in  the  minds  of  many- 
men.  One  cannot  escape  the  fact  that  there 
are  great  heart-failings  in  both  Europe  and 
America,  and  in  some  countries  a  rather  strik- 
ing defection  from  the  Church.  A  very  dark 
cloud  of  pessimism,  born  out  of  discourage- 
ment and  suffering,  has  settled  down  upon  Eu- 
rope. It  has  reacted  upon  America  in  the 
minds  of  those  who  think. 

I  believe  however — because  I  believe  in  God 
— in  evolution,  and  in  the  teachings  of  Jesus 
Christ,  that  the  Church,  which  should  be  the 
voice  of  Christ  in  the  world,  has  the  power  to 
redeem  the  world  from  that  most  deep-rooted 
of  all  curses,  war.  But  it  cannot  do  so  unless 
it  dare  believe  its  own  gospel,  and  dare 
to  demand  that  the  nations  base  their  re- 
lationships upon  those  same  Christian  prin- 
ciples upon  which  the  relationships  .of  all 
Christian  gentlemen  are  based.  There  is  abso- 
lutely no  use  of  going  hack  to  the  gospel  the 
Church  had  for  the  nations  before  this  war,  and 
it  is  utterly  futile  to  go  back  to  the  only  bases 
upon  which  international  relationships  previ- 
ously rested.  If  the  Church  has  no  greater 
gospel,  no  higher  message  for  the  world  than 
that  now  being  offered  by  Security  Leagues, 
Defense  Societies,  Army  and  Navy  Leagues, 


PREFACE  X 

Patriotic  Organizations,  Conscription  Leagues, 
and  Preparedness  Parades,  then  it  might  as 
well  confess  its  impotency  to  be  the  leader  of 
the  world  out  of  chaos  into  order.  For  none 
of  these  organizations  are  offering  anything 
except  the  principles  on  which  the  old  order 
rested,  toppling  always,  insecure,  and  at  last 
falling.  It  is  this  truth  I  wish  to  recall  to  the 
Churches.  But  mostly  I  wish  to  reassure  those 
prophetic  souls  who  have  been  writing  me  from 
all  over  our  great  land — and  there  are  many, 
young,  ardent,  full  of  faith — that  this  is  the 
great  day  of  the  Church  if  it  but  go  forth 
with  its  Lord  in  a  great  venture  far  beyond  the 
power  of  those  who  are  bound  by  habit  of 
thought  and  tradition,  to  go.  To  them  belongs 
yesterday  and  to-day  in  Europe — to-morrow 
belongs  to  us. 

All  this  material  has  been  used  in  editorial 
form  in  The  Christian  Work  during  the  past 
year.  This  accounts  for  some  repetition  and 
some  informality  of  expression  not  generally 
expected  in  a  book.  But  it  seemed  best  not 
to  re-write  them,  and  print  them  practically 
unchanged.  F.  L. 

NewYork. 


CONTENTS 

I.     The  Church  on  Trial        .       ii 

II.     Has  the  Church  Lost  the 

Power  of  Venture?         .       24 

III.  Shall  We  Abandon  the  Im- 

possibles?   ....       35 

IV.  Militarism     or     Pacifism  : 

Which  Will  Win  ?  .        .       47 

V.  The  Present  Condition  of 
Christianity  in  the  War- 
ring Nations      ...       64 

VL     The  Task  of  the  Twenti- 
eth Century     ...       78 

VII.     A  Nation's  True  Greatness      85 

VIII.     "  Choose  This  Day  Whom 

Thou  Wilt  Serve  "  .        .       93 

IX.     The  Present  Issue       .        .     102 

X.     Doctrine  AND  Deed      .        .110 

XI.     The  World's  Incapacity  to 

Learn 119 

XII.     The    League    to    Enforce 

Peace 132 

9 


10  CONTENTS 

XIII.  Why  Not  a  League  of  the 

American  Nations?         .     140 

XIV.  The  World  Court  to  Dis- 

place World  War     .        -147 

XV.     The    Best    National    De- 
fence    160 

XVI.     The    Nation's    Real    Foes 

Within  Its  Own  Borders     169 

XVII.     The  Leavings  for  Christ  .     177 
XVIII.     America  and  the  Rehabili- 
tation OF  Europe      .        .      185 

XIX.     Man's  Relationship  to  God     192 

XX.     Man's  Relationship  to  Man     199 

XXI.     Man's  Relationship  to  the 

World  ....     207 

XXII.     Man,  the  Builder        .        .     213 

XXIII.  Two  Philosophies  of  Life    221 

XXIV.  The  Need  of  the  Gospel    .     232 

XXV.     What  Does   Christ  Want 

Us  TO  Do?  .        .        .       .  241 

XXVI.     Jesus'  Test  of  Discipleship  249 

XXVII.    Some  Rays  of  Hope      .       .  255 


THE  CHURCH  ON  TRIAL 

NO  one  can  read  some  of  the  books  which 
are  coming  over  from  Europe  without 
noting  a  growing  sentiment  among 
their  authors  that  not  much  is  to  be  expected 
from  the  Church  in  the  way  of  constructive 
measures  after  this  war  is  over.  There  are 
three  books  before  us  as  we  write.  All  three 
of  them  are  having  a  very  wide  reading  in 
England,  and  all  three  are  by  authors  who  not 
only  are  widely  read,  but  who  exert  a  very 
wide  influence  and  have  large  followings.  All 
three  of  these  books,  "  What  Is  Coming  ?  "  by 
Herbert  G.  Wells;  "What  Is  Christianity?" 
by  Bernard  Shaw,  and  "  Christ  and  Peace," 
by  a  group  of  prominent  young  Englishmen 
— representative  of  the  different  universities — 
are  attempts  at  forecasting  the  Europe  that 
must  come  after  this  war.  These  men  see 
that  there  must  be  a  new  order  of  things  if 
Europe  is  not  to  be  plunged  into  this  thing 
again.  And  to  be  driven  to  this  thing  again 
11 


12  The  Challenge 

means  the  bottomless  pit.  All  of  these  books 
are  hopeful,  too.  They  believe  that  many  in 
Europe  have  at  last  been  pretty  thoroughly 
disillusioned  as  to  the  worth  of  vi^ar.  They 
believe  that  a  new  generation  will  come  along 
and  demand  both  a  new  international  ethic 
and  a  new  international  political  order.  They 
all  quite  unanimously  say  that  this  new  ethic 
will  be  the  ethic  of  Jesus.  Mr.  Shaw  devotes 
his  book  to  pleading  for  this  ethic.  He  even 
goes  so  far  as  to  say  that  had  Jesus  founded 
a  state  on  His  own  teachings,  we  should  have 
the  Christian  society  where  there  would  be 
no  war. 

But  none  of  these  men  has  any  confidence 
that  the  Church  will  lead  in  the  establishment 
of  this  new  order.  They  look  to  socialism,  to 
unions  for  democratic  control,  to  groups  of 
young  college  men,  to  the  Fellowship  of 
Reconciliation,  even  to  the  labour  unions. 
They  hardly  mention  the  Church  as  a  factor 
in  establishing  the  new  order  based  on  Christ's 
law  of  love,  good-will,  forgiveness  of  the 
enemy,  service  and  mission  the  chief  end  of 
life,  forgetfulness  of  self  in  the  salvation  of 
the  world,  discipleship  to  Christ  above  patriot- 
ism. They  rather  go  out  of  their  way  to 
imply  that  there  is  no  need  of  looking  to  the 


The  Church  on  Trial  13 

Church.  They  intimate  that  no  one  is  so  much 
afraid  of  her  own  gospel  as  she,  herself;  that 
if  she  began  practising  it  to-morrow,  she 
would  lose  most  of  her  "  respectable  "  adher- 
ents; that  she  has  said  nothing  of  any  particu- 
lar significance  since  the  war  opened,  and  there 
was  no  sign  of  her  making  any  preparation  to 
say  anything ;  that  after  the  war  she  would  go 
on  preaching  "  patriotism "  as  her  greatest 
message  before  a  world  that  would  need  Christ 
again  almost  in  bodily  presence  to  begin  to 
resurrect  it,  so  has  it  mutilated  its  soul;  and 
would  go  on  discussing  trivial  things — and 
most  great  things  are  trivial  before  this  greater 
calamity — while  scattered  groups  of  prophetic 
souls  would  be  trying  to  lead  the  world  back 
to  Christ — the  real  Christ,  who  has  been  lost 
by  both  the  Church  and  the  world. 

So  discouraged  have  certain  eager  souls  be- 
come over  the  possibility  of  the  Church  lead- 
ing the  nations  out  of  the  present  unchristian 
order,  that,  without  formally  severing  connec- 
tion with  the  Church,  groups  of  young,  ardent 
followers  of  Jesus,  both  in  England  and  Amer- 
ica, have  come  together  in  new  Christian  fel- 
lowships, that  they  may  proclaim  to  the  nations 
a  new  gospel  commensurate  to  a  new  and 
changed  world.    Thus  in  England,  a  group  of 


14  The  Challenge 

Cambridge  students,  discouraged  over  the 
silence  of  the  Church  in  this  time  of  awful 
crisis,  joined  themselves  together  in  a  "  Fel- 
lowship of  Reconciliation,"  which  now  num- 
bers over  four  thousand  young  men  and 
women.  (This  movement  has  been  quietly 
but  rapidly  spreading  over  the  United  States. ) 
It  is  a  rallying  point  of  those  who  believe  that 
the  teachings  of  Jesus  should  be  applied  to 
international  relationships  as  well  as  to  per- 
sonal, and  its  confessed  aim  is  "  the  enthrone- 
ment of  love  in  social,  national  and  interna- 
tional relationships."  We  mention  it  here 
simply  as  a  sign  of  the  times.  Here  are  four 
thousand  young  men  leaving  the  Church  that 
they  may  urge  the  teachings  of  Jesus  upon  the 
world,  and  offer  the  nations  a  new  rule  of  life 
after  this  war  is  over.  It  means,  of  course, 
that  they  do  not  have  faith  that  the  Church 
will  do  it.  The  Roman  Catholics  of  the 
United  States  have  recently  been  holding  a 
week's  conference  in  New  York,  and  there  was 
evidently  not  the  slightest  stirring  in  anybody's 
heart  of  a  great  opportunity  for  the  Church 
to  redeem  the  world  from  the  awful  calamity 
upon  it,  and  the  only  expressions  on  this  great 
theme  that  this  great  Catholic  congress  could 
rise  to  were  one  or  two  to  the  effect  that  mili- 


The  Church  on  Trial  15 

tary  training  was  good  because  it  inculcated 
obedience  to  authority.  The  foremost  educator 
in  the  nation  has  expressed  himself  as  follows  : 
"  At  this  moment  none  of  the  Christian 
churches  has  had  any  influence  to  prevent  the 
catastrophe  which  has  overtaken  Europe  .  .  . 
so  far  as  the  advent  of  universal  peace  is  con- 
cerned, one  form  of  Christianity  is  as  good  as 
another — and  all  are  helpless."  Any  one  who 
has  carefully  followed  magazine,  book  and 
paper  during  the  last  two  years  has  seen  this 
sentiment  echoed  daily.  Here  is  one  of  the 
strongest  of  these  statements,  in  the  introduc- 
tion to  the  book  mentioned  above :  *'  Christ 
and  Peace  " : 

"  While  the  Church  hesitates,  there  are  num- 
bers outside  her  borders  who  have  no  doubt 
that  the  present  situation  reveals  a  failure  on 
her  part  to  understand  her  true  function  in  so- 
ciety. Many  of  these  are  not  bitter  critics,  but 
reverent  and  earnest  seekers.  They  have  looked 
for  light  and  leading,  and  have  turned  away 
disappointed.  It  may  be  that  some  such  will 
welcome  in  this  volume  what  is  at  least  a  seri- 
ous attempt  to  face  and  state  the  full  meaning 
of  the  Christian  demand  in  relation  to  war. 
From  them,  not  less  than  from  the  members 
of  organized  Christian  bodies,  we  have  a  right 


16  The  Challenge 

to  expect  help  in  the  supreme  task  that  opens 
out  before  the  race.  Perhaps,  by  some  such 
united  effort,  we  may  find  our  way  to  a  truer 
conception  of  the  Church,  as  well  as  to  a  mis- 
sion more  worthy  of  the  high  ideals  which 
have  been  committed  to  her.  What  the  writers 
of  these  papers  desire  is  that  the  Church  may 
take  her  rightful  place  when  the  war  is  over, 
and  may  at  last  proclaim  a  living  message  with 
prophetic  power,  a  message  which  shall  direct 
the  minds  of  men  to  those  great  truths  in  obe- 
dience to  which  the  health  of  the  nations  is  to 
be  found.  What  they  fear  is  that  she  may  lose 
her  chance  of  proclaiming  that  message  then, 
because  now  she  has  not  spoken  with  the  note 
of  reality  and  conviction,  and  because  she  has 
not  dared  to  face  the  full  meaning  of  the  prob- 
lem involved  in  this  war.  If  they  can  help 
toward  avoiding  this  danger,  and  preparing 
for  the  new  day — in  however  small  a  way — -. 
they  will  be  rewarded  for  taking  a  course 
which  they  are  well  aware  may  cause  misunder- 
standing at  a  time  of  crisis  like  the  present." 

While  this  doubt  of  the  Church  is  certainly 
very  widespread  at  just  this  time,  there  are  on 
the  other  hand,  millions  who  love  her  still  and 
have  faith,  or,  at  least,  have  hope,  that  this 
great  war  will  be  the  occasion  of  her  rising  to 


The  Church  on  Trial  17 

a  supreme  height  of  leadership  such  as  she  has 
not  exercised  since  apostolic  days,  and  of  de- 
claring the  whole  gospel  of  Christ  regardless 
of  governments,  powers  and  men.  The  trouble 
has  been  that  she  has  been  dwelling  too  much 
on  the  lesser  things  and  neglecting  the  greater. 
And  now  she  has  seen  civilization  slipping  out 
of  her  control.  Will  she  see  this?  And  will 
she  attack  the  greater  evils  and  preach  com- 
mandingly  the  whole  gospel  of  Christ?  And 
will  she  now  get  down  to  realities?  It  is  her 
testing  time.  She  is  on  trial  as  never  before. 
If  she  does  not  do  it  the  world  will  turn  else- 
where, for  the  good  people  of  the  world  have 
made  up  their  minds  that  they  do  not  want 
this  thing  again. 

As  for  us,  we  believe  she  will.  Ten  good 
men  would  have  saved  Sodom,  and  we  believe 
the  more  than  ten  prophetic  souls  in  the  Church 
will  save  her.  These  prophetic  souls  within  her 
bosom  are  increasing  in  numbers  in  spite  of 
the  thousands  of  her  leaders  who  have  as  yet 
caught  no  vision.  From  every  land,  even 
from  the  pulpits  of  the  belligerent  nations,  are 
coming  voices  in  greater  and  greater  numbers, 
saying,  "  Surely  Christianity  is  great  enough 
to  save  the  nations,  and  the  time  has  come  at 
last  to  preach  it  in  its  fulness,  to  accept  all  its 


18  The  Challenge 

implications,  and  to  leave  it  to  men  either  to 
accept  it  or  reject  it." 

The  world  might  reject  it  again,  as  it  re- 
jected it  two  thousand  years  ago.  But,  some- 
how, we  believe  it  is  at  last  ready  to  receive 
it.  We  believe  that  should  Christ  come  again 
and  repeat  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  men 
would  say :  "  Yes  this  is  the  better  way.  We 
have  called  it  foolishness  and  turned  to  our 
own  ways  of  force  and  guns,  and  suspicions 
and  revenges,  and  punishments,  and  doctrines 
of  right  and  honour,  and  nationalism  and  se- 
curity, and  competition  and  self-aggrandize- 
ment— and  it  has  all  failed,  utterly,  absolutely, 
unqualifiedly  failed.  Now  let  us  try  Thy  way. 
Perhaps  after  all  Thou  knowest  better  than  we, 
O  Christ,  the  eternal  laws  and  the  foundations 
of  lasting  happiness  and  strength."  We  said 
that  we  believed  the  world  might  listen.  Yes, 
and  we  believe  this  so  heartily  that  we  believe 
the  world  will  not  long  listen  to  the  Church — 
His  representative,  His  vicar.  His  appointed 
voice  for  Him  in  the  earth — unless  she  speedily 
goes  forth  to  say  just  this  word. 

The  world  is  not  much  longer  going  to  care 
much  for  a  Church  that  is  simply  an  echo  of 
the  world  and  the  world  order.  What  first 
sowed  the  seed  of  distrust  of  the  Church  in 


The  Church  on  Trial  19 

Luther's  mind  was  the  fact  that  when  he  went 
to  Rome  he  found  the  Church  Hving  just  as 
the  world  did.  What  is  sowing  in  many  minds 
the  seed  of  distrust  of  the  Church's  power  to 
lead  at  this  time  is  that  they  see  her  thinking 
just  as  the  world  does.  It  was  pungently  ex- 
pressed last  winter  by  a  gentleman  who  was 
strolling  up  Fifth  avenue,  New  York,  one  eve- 
ning, when  he  saw  a  notice  in  front  of  a  church 
to  the  effect  that  the  pastor  was  to  preach  on 
*'  Preparedness."  "  I  went  in,"  he  said,  "  ex- 
pecting to  hear  a  sermon  on  the  text  *  Prepare 
to  meet  thy  God,'  and  instead  I  found  the 
minister  preaching  on  '  Prepare  to  meet  the 
Germans.'"  "What  did  you  do?"  he  was 
asked.  "  I  came  out,"  he  replied,  "  for  when 
the  Church  becomes  simply  an  echo  of  the 
Navy  League — well,  Til  take  my  New  Testa- 
ment and  listen  to  Christ."  Here,  one  has  it  all. 
If  the  Church  would  rise  to  the  great  call- 
ing that  awaits  her,  lest  it  pass  into  the  hands 
of  others,  let  her  realize  that  she  cannot  save 
the  world  if  she  is  to  be  only  an  echo  of  it, 
preaching  only  the  gospel  of  the  crowd,  repeat- 
ing the  sentiment  of  the  daily  press,  rising  no 
higher  than  the  resolutions  of  conservative 
chambers  of  congress,  proclaiming  the  ethics  of 
the  market  place,  and  in  her  councils  passing 


20  The  Challenge 

resolutions  in  face  of  the  great  world  tragedy 
that  rise  no  higher  than  those  passed  by  de- 
fence societies. 

Let  her  realize  that  she  must  preach  a  new 
patriotism,  a  patriotism  that  is  not  so  much 
concerned  with  saving  the  nation  as  it  is  in 
having  the  nation  be  a  Christ-nation  to  the 
other  nations  of  the  world.  When  Jesus  Christ 
said :  "  I  think  not  of  myself,  but  only  of  how 
I  can  save  my  brothers,"  a  dynamic  was  in- 
jected into  the  world  that  has  made  it  new 
so  far  as  human  hearts  are  concerned.  What 
another  renewing  force  would  be  liberated  in 
the  world  if  the  whole  Church  of  Christ  in 
America  would  say :  "  Let  America  be  not 
tremblingly  thinking  of  herself,  but  only  how 
can  she  save  the  other  nations?  "  Ah,  what  a 
glorious  Church  that  would  be,  and  how  aghast 
the  world  would  stand  before  it,  as  did  the 
Romans  and  the  Greeks  before  Christ! 

Let  her  realize  that  if  she  is  to  be  the  world's 
accepted  one,  she  must  preach  the  new — it  is 
as  old  as  Christ — nationalism.  The  old  na- 
tionalism has  always  been  the  root  of  war.  It 
was  the  one  deep-rooted  cause  of  the  present 
war.  Many  in  Europe  are  beginning  at  last  to 
distrust  it,  while  in  our  own  land  our  short- 
sighted politicians  and  our  backward-looking 


The  Church  on  Trial-  21 

statesmen  and  our  preparedness  advocates  are 
agitating  it  and  using  it  as  a  slogan.  If  it  is 
the  only  gospel  the  Church  has  then  the  out- 
look is  truly  evil.  For  how  long  will  a  dis- 
illusioned world,  a  world  in  doubts,  misgivings 
over  everything  it  has  known,  distrusting  all 
the  past  orders  since  they  have  landed  it  only 
in  hell,  look  to  a  Church  that  has  no  higher 
gospel  than  "  America  only,"  "  Deutschland 
iiber  Alles,"  "England  forever?"  But  sup- 
pose the  Church  should  rise  and  say :  "  Now 
for  the  kingdom  of  God ;  now  for  the  republic 
of  all  good  men ;  now  for  the  fellowship  of  all 
believers;  now  for  the  communion  of  saints; 
and  let  every  disciple  of  Jesus  Christ  count 
every  other  disciple  nearer  to  him  than  any 
member  of  his  own  nation  who  is  Christ's 
enemy;  and  let  every  Christian's  allegiance  be 
first  to  Jesus  Christ;  and  let  every  Christian  say 
that  never  will  he  kill  his  brother  Christian  in 
any  land  or  nation  at  the  behest  of  governments 
any  sooner  than  he  would  kill  his  own  child — 
for  this  brother  is  his  Christ's  little  child  and  in 
killing  him  he  makes  Christ's  and  his  heavenly 
Father's  heart  bleed."  Would  there  ever  be 
another  war?  There  could  not  be.  There 
need  not  be,  if  the  whole  Church  would  insist 
on  obeying  Christ  first.    We  believe  the  very 


22  The  Challenge 

boldness  of  the  Church  should  it  thus  say  again 
what  its  Lord  said  would  draw  all  men  to  it  in 
holy  wonder. 

Finally,  let  her  realize  that  a  great  stream  of 
testimony  is  coming  out  of  Europe,  from  the 
trenches,  from  impoverished  villages,  from 
stricken  homes,  to  the  effect  that  militarism, 
armament,  war  itself  is  all  sham,  abomination, 
and  futility.  As  was  said  rightly  by  a  dis- 
tinguished Englishman  the  other  day,  "  The 
future  pacifists  of  Europe  are  in  the  trenches." 
From  all  parts  of  Europe  are  coming  echoes  of 
a  determination  "To  try  some  better  way." 
From  Holland,  Norway,  Sweden,  Switzerland 
are  coming  plans  for  a  permanent  peace  based 
on  other  things  than  guns.  In  Sweden,  the 
mass  meetings  and  acts  of  parliament  calling 
for  disarmament  are  but  indices  of  what  thou- 
sands are  feeling  in  Europe.  What  a  chance 
for  the  Church  to  rise  in  majesty  and  say,  with 
its  Lord  of  love  and  peace :  "  Let  us  put  away 
these  old  things  now  and  forever.  Let  us 
make  a  great  venture.  Let  us  make  a  great  act 
of  faith.  Let  us  all  forgive  our  enemies  and 
start  anew.  Christ  can  make  all  things  new. 
Let  all  who  call  themselves  Christians  get  to- 
gether, as  men  and  States  have  got  together, 
and  form  a  compact,  or  a  league  of  nations, 


The  Church  on  Trial  23 

or  some  sort  of  united  nations  of  the  world, 
and  lay  down  our  arms,  using  courts  in  their 
stead,  and  let  us  learn  to  love  and  help  one 
another,  as  children  of  the  same  Father,  and 
walk  arm  in  arm  together  through  a  world  that 
calls  for  our  united,  spiritual  warfare  against 
many  evils;  and  let  us  remember  that  before 
us  all  lies  one  destiny,  one  home.  We  must 
live  together  then.  Let  us  learn  to  live  to- 
gether here."  Can  the  Church  rise  to  say  that 
soon?  If  she  cannot,  others  will.  Is  it  not 
significant  that  already  the  great  novelist,  Re- 
main Rolland,  a  Frenchman,  has  just  said  it 
in  his  wonderful  letter,  "  Above  the  Battle  "  ? 
It  is  an  echo  of  Christ — but  why  is  not  the 
Church  unitedly  saying  the  same  thing? 


II 


HAS  THE  CHURCH  LOST  THE  POWER 
OF  VENTURE? 

THE  creation  of  the  Christian  Church  was 
a  great  venture.  It  was  an  act  of 
sublime  and  surpassing  faith,  A  young 
man  was  born  into  an  age  of  convention,  re- 
ligious formalism  and  theological  fixity.  He 
dreamed  a  dream  of  a  new  kingdom — a  king- 
dom of  freedom  and  of  the  spirit.  He  con- 
ceived a  state  to  be  founded  on  good-will.  He 
called  together  twelve  men — it  was  the  great- 
est venture  ever  made — and  established  a 
Church  which  was  as  far  removed  from  the 
existing  Church  as  socialism  is  from  feudalism. 
It  was  its  daring  that  saved  it.  The  Church 
would  not  have  lived  had  it  been  only  a  little 
way  removed  from  the  Jewish  Church,  only 
one  step  beyond  or  above.  It  was  because  it 
was  so  revolutionary,  so  radical,  so  impossible, 
that  it  lived  and  attracted  the  attention  of  the 
world.  It  arrested  men.  It  put  a  new,  glori- 
ous, alluring  ideal,  a  living,  spiritual  state,  an 
opportunity  fit  for  gods  before  men.  As  a 
24 


Has  Church  Lost  the  Power  of  Venture?      25 

result,  it  won  prophetic  souls,  and  these  pro- 
phetic souls  banded  themselves  together,  held 
by  the  inspiration  of  a  great  venture  and  by- 
devotion  to  their  Lord — the  great  adventurer 
of  history. 

The  primitive  Church  was  a  weak  affair. 
When  Christ  died,  there  were  probably  not 
more  than  a  hundred  real  members  in  exist- 
ence. It  was  a  little  group  of  men  and  women, 
none  powerful,  none  famous,  set  in  the  midst 
of  a  great  Jewish  religion  and  a  Roman  civili- 
zation. The  first  discussion  which  agitated 
this  new  Church  was  whether  it  should  not  con- 
form to  the  Jewish  faith,  merely  grafting  on  to 
it  a  faith  in  Jesus  as  the  Messiah.  Everybody 
knows  now,  that  had  the  counsel  of  the  conser- 
vative Jewish  members  prevailed,  there  would 
have  been  no  Christian  Church.  Fortunately 
they  did  not  prevail.  The  prophetic  members 
had  their  way.  The  primitive  Church  decided 
to  make  a  great  venture.  It  broke  with  Juda- 
ism in  one  great  bound.  It  broke  with  con- 
temporary ethics.  It  broke  absolutely  with 
Roman  civilization.  It  broke  with  the  current 
Greek  philosophy,  which,  at  its  core,  was  sim- 
ply that  life  existed  for  self -protection,  self- 
development,  self -security.  To  see  how  great 
this  break  was,  one  has  only  to  read  the  ser- 


26  The  Challenge 

mons  of  the  first  missionaries  as  recorded  in 
the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  the  Epistles  of  Paul 
and  John,  and  the  sermons  and  treatises  of  the 
Church  Fathers.  The  gospel  offered  by  the 
early  Church  was  as  far  removed  from 
the  ordinary  conventional  religion  as  were  the 
stars  from  the  haunts  of  men.  It  had  nothing 
in  common  with  the  ideals  or  ethics  of  the 
crowd.  Its  idols  had  nothing  in  common  with 
the  idols  of  the  market  place.  In  a  world  that 
believed  in  revenge,  it  preached  love.  To  a 
society  engrossed  in  pleasure,  it  preached  duty 
and  purity.  To  a  civilization  based  on  force, 
it  preached  good-will.  To  a  civilization  in 
which  war  was  the  accepted  and  normal  life,  it 
made  direct  protest  against  war.  (Practically 
every  one  of  the  Church  Fathers  say,  "  Chris- 
tians must  not  bear  arms  against  each 
other.")  ^ 

In  a  social  order  where  caste  was  fixed  and 
accepted,  it  said  all  men  were  equal.  In  an 
autocracy,  it  preached  democracy.  In  a  world 
that  put  nationalism  above  everything  else,  it 
placed  humanity  first,  and  put  citizenship  in 
the  kingdom  above  allegiance  to  the  State.    In 

*  See  Mr.  Carnegie's  exhaustive  tabulation  of  the  opin- 
ions of  the  early  Fathers  in  his  pamphlet  "A  League  of 
Peace." 


Has  Church  Lost  the  Power  of  Venture?      27 

a  world  which  idolized  forcefulness,  physical 
prowess,  lordship  over  others,  triumph  in  arms, 
it  proclaimed  meekness,  gentleness,  forbear- 
ance, and  the  spirit  of  lowly  service  as  the  most 
admirable  qualities  of  manhood.  With  a  sub- 
lime and  unequalled  confidence  in  its  message 
it  went  out  into  the  world  with  that  message. 
It  was  a  great  venture  and  because  it  was 
a  great  venture  the  Church  soon  commanded 
the  attention  of  the  Greek  and  Roman  world. 
It  was  the  very  impossible  of  the  early  Church 
that  assured  its  life  and  growth.  It  not  only 
drew  the  prophetic  souls  of  the  ancient  world 
into  its  fold,  but  it  commanded  the  admiration 
of  the  crowd  in  due  time  simply  because  it  had 
a  message.  A  Church  without  a  message 
would  never  have  made  any  progress  in  either 
Greece  or  Rome.  But  the  great  thing  is  that 
it  dared  make  the  great  venture.  By  its  very 
flight  toward  the  stars  it  made  itself  seen  of  all 
men.  Only  that  which  is  lifted  up  can  draw 
men  to  it.  The  Church  can  lead  only  when  it 
is  far  ahead  of  the  people — only  when  it  dares 
make  the  great  venture. 

Many  are  wondering  to-day  if  the  Church 
has  lost  this  power  of  venture?  Does  it  dare 
make  the  venture  with  Peter  across  the  stormy 
sea  to  meet  the  Lord  where  He  stands?    One 


28  The  Challenge 

has  only  even  carelessly  to  read  the  secular 
press  of  both  Europe  and  America,  together 
with  the  many  books  that  are  being  written, 
to  see  how  widespread  the  feeling  is  that  the 
Church,  as  an  institution,  has  neither  any 
vision  in  this  moment  of  a  crumbling  world, 
nor  any  faith  to  make  again  the  great  venture, 
even  if  she  had  the  vision.  One  turns  in  vain 
to  the  utterance  of  either  Catholic  or  Protes- 
tant Church  in  Europe  for  any  prophetic  word. 
The  Vatican  has  no  great  word  for  stricken 
Europe;  the  churches  of  Germany  and  Great 
Britain,  after  two  years  of  war,  have  no  new 
word  to  say.  There  is  yet  no  intimation  that 
they  are  planning  any  great  venture  after  this 
war  is  over,  formulating  any  new,  prophetic 
word  to  speak  to  a  world  victimized  by  an  un- 
necessary and  diabolic  war.  Perhaps  there  is 
some  excuse  for  the  Church  in  Europe.  It  is 
sorely  vexed  at  this  time.  It  has  its  hands 
and  heart  absorbed  in  a  work  of  immediate 
ministry.  Its  resources  are  heavily  taxed  and 
it  is  too  hard  pressed  to  find  time  for  prayer 
or  to  exercise  vision. 

But  what  shall  we  say  of  the  Church  in  the 
United  States?  What  is  happening  in  this 
favoured  land,  where,  far  from  the  scenes  of 
war,  we  can  contemplate  it  in  right  perspective, 


Has  Church  Lost  the  Power  of  Venture?      29 

view  all  its  terrible  calamity,  study  causes  and 
effects,  and  speak  some  great  healing,  new 
word  ?  Here  is  the  greatest  apostasy  the  world 
has  ever  witnessed.  Here  is  a  denial  of  every- 
thing for  which  Christ  stood  such  as  the  dark- 
est times  of  the  Middle  Ages  never  saw.  Here 
are  millions  of  Christians  bending  all  their 
energies,  resources  and  genius  to  slaughtering 
each  other,  stopping  at  no  diabolical  method. 
Here  are  millions  of  women  and  little  chil- 
dren being  starved  and  driven  crazy,  so  that 
some  nations — Poland,  for  instance — have  been 
absolutely  decimated  of  children.  Here  are 
fearful  burdens  being  placed  upon  the  shoul- 
ders of  the  poor  for  succeeding  centuries. 
Here  are  institutions,  social  organizations, 
charities,  philanthropies  that  have  taken  years 
to  form,  being  all  put  aside  for  years.  Here 
are  missions  set  back  for  a  century.  Here 
are  cities  being  devastated.  But  worst  of  all, 
here  are  hatreds  among  Christians  being  en- 
gendered that  must  make  even  the  far-seeing 
Christ  despair  of  His  kingdom  of  good-will 
ever  coming  in  the  earth. 

Now,  whatever  one  may  say  about  Chris- 
tianity having  not  failed,  because  it  has  not 
been  tried — and  it  has  not,  neither  has  it  been 
preached — it     is     absolutely     certain:     that 


30  The  Challenge 

the  Church  was  not  able  to  stem  the  awful 
flood  of  sudden  passion  that  broke  loose  into 
war;  hardly  raised  its  voice  in  protest;  was 
soon  swept  away  by  the  mob  in  every  country, 
and  has  since  become  nothing  but  the  cham- 
pion of  the  arms  in  each  land.  Neither,  with 
the  splendid  exception  of  a  few  men  and  con- 
gregations in  Great  Britain  and  Germany,  has 
the  Church  done  or  said  anything  in  the  last 
century  that  could  make  this  present  holocaust 
impossible  or  even  improbable.  There  is  no 
utterance  of  any  ecclesiastical  council,  Protes- 
tant or  Catholic,  in  Europe  during  the  last  one 
hundred  years  that  has  anything  of  the  nature 
of  venture  in  it  or  speaks  out,  as  Christ  would 
speak,  against  the  blasphemy  and  sin  of  war, 
even  of  wars  of  conquest  or  for  settling  dis- 
putes, taking  for  granted  now  that  one  might 
have  the  right  to  repel  direct  invasion.  When, 
two  years  before  this  war  broke  out,  certain 
prophetic  Swiss  pastors  drew  up  a  really 
Christian  protest  against  war — one  which  was 
praised  by  all  prophetic  souls,  by  poets  and 
authors,  as  lofty,  dignified,  and  really  Chris- 
tian— and  asked  the  churches  of  Europe  to  con- 
sider it  in  conference  together,  they  received 
— and  they  were  very  eminent  men — not  only 
the  rebuff  of  the  churches  refusing  to  come  to- 


Has  Church  Lost  the  Power  of  Venture?      31 

gather  to  consider  it,  but  intimations,  especially 
from  Germany,  that  the  churches  could  not 
discuss  such  subjects  as  the  passing  of  war! 
That  conference,  with  the  official  endorsement 
of  the  churches,  might  have  prevented  this  war. 
But  the  Church  had  lost  the  power  of  venture. 
It  never  can  prevent  such  deluges  as  the  world 
is  enduring,  by  anything  it  has  yet  said  or  done. 
Everybody  must  have  been  convinced  of  this. 
We  were  saying  that  surely  the  Church  in 
America,  being  uninvolved  in  the  awful  strife, 
and  seeing  the  absolute  failure  of  the  Church, 
and  the  absolute  inadequacy  of  anything  the 
Church  has  yet  said  or  done  to  prevent  this 
awful  daily  crucifixion  of  the  Lord,  would  rise 
at  last  to  make  another  great  venture,  have 
some  new  word  to  say,  at  least  be  urged  to 
say  for  once  what  its  Lord  Himself  said,  do 
some  wonderful,  compelling  thing!  But  alas, 
alas,  no  word  has  come  and  we  have  the  spec- 
tacle, with  many  noble  exceptions,  of  the  min- 
isters in  Christ's  Church  in  America,  with  the 
great  world  crisis,  calling  for  new  utterances 
as  great  as  those  of  Jesus,  Paul,  Luther  or 
Wesley  to  meet  great  opportunities,  writing 
letters  to  Washington  asking  for  more  guns; 
signing  calls  to  arms  in  newspapers ;  marching 
in  military  parades  among  rows  of  glistening 


32  The  Challenge 

bayonets;  preaching  "  musket  "  patriotism;  at- 
tacking pacifists  who  are  trying  simply  to  apply 
the  principles  of  Jesus  to  international  affairs. 
This  the  only  word  a  large  section  of  the 
Church  has  got  to  say  to  the  world  in  this 
awful  crisis — this,  which  is  the  same  old  word 
that  Germany  and  England  and  France  have 
been  saying  for  a  hundred  years — "  We  must 
arm";  "self-defence";  "military  prepared- 
ness " — this  the  only  word  in  the  great  crisis 
of  the  world ;  this  the  only  word,  when  it  is  the 
same  word  that  has  failed,  as  absolutely  as 
Mohammedanism  has  failed,  to  build  a  lasting 
kingdom  of  good-will  and  love. 

Has  the  Church  lost  the  power  of  venture? 
What  an  opportunity  for  the  Church  in 
America  to  take  a  great  venture  and  say  the 
big,  new,  healing  word;  to  condemn  forever 
with  one  great  unanimous  voice  the  whole  out- 
worn, incapable,  toppled,  unchristian  military 
and  political  systems  that  preceded  this  war; 
to  proclaim  the  new  gospel  of  love  of  the 
enemy,  good-will,  forgiveness,  redemption  of 
other  peoples  as  the  only  mission  of  a  nation 
as  the  primitive  Church  took  a  great  venture 
and  proclaimed  it  as  the  only  mission  of  a 
Christian  man;  to  proclaim  that  the  time  has 
come  for  the  nation  to  bend  all  its  energies  to. 


Has  Church  Lost  the  Power  of  Venture?      33 

establishing  a  kingdom  of  good-will  among 
nations  as  the  early  Church  proclaimed  this  as 
the  mission  of  every  soul;  to  demand  that  the 
nation's  patriotism  be  to  humanity  as  the  in- 
dividual's was  to  the  kingdom ;  to  demand  that 
national  boundaries  shall  mean  no  more  to 
nations  than  local  boundaries  mean  to  Chris- 
tians; to  reaffirm  Jesus'  great  teaching  of  real 
brotherhood,  that  membership  in  His  kingdom 
constituted  a  closer  tie  than  citizenship  in  the 
same  country;  to  proclaim  that  the  time  has 
come  for  nations  to  rely  on  moral  forces  as 
much  as  do  Christian  men ;  to  proclaim  that  the 
old  ethic,  the  old  political  system,  the  whole 
old  order  of  competitive  armament  has  broken 
down  and  has  no  place  in  the  Kingdom  of  God, 
and  that  the  time  has  come  for  the  Church  to 
take  Jesus  by  the  arm  and  have  faith  in  His 
teachings,  and  go  forth  bravely  to  apply  them 
to  the  world. 

We  might  as  well  frankly  face  the  fact  that 
there  is  no  hope  for  the  world  until  the  Church 
rises  to  this.  But  has  it  got  any  power  of 
venture  left  in  it?  Or  is  it  to  be,  what  it  has 
been  for  centuries,  simply  the  echo  of  the  opin- 
ion of  that  crowd  firmly  entrenched  in  the 
toryism  which  sees  no  sense  or  security  ex- 
cept in  old  things  and  old  institutions?     We 


34  The  Challenge 

do  not  know.  Certainly  it  is  showing  no  signs 
of  it  yet.  Perhaps  the  Church  must  pass,  and 
let  some  new  organization  of  the  young,  pro- 
phetic and  venturesome,  make  the  great  ven- 
ture. But  we  pray  that  the  Church  may  rise 
to  it. 


Ill 

SHALL  WE  ABANDON  THE 
IMPOSSIBLES? 

THE  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  as  do  most 
of  the  other  teachings  of  Jesus,  bor- 
ders on  the  verge  of  the  impossible. 
Indeed  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  has  been 
called  "  Christ's  Impossibles  "  more  than  once. 
The  Christian  Church  has  recognized  this  in 
all  ages — recognized  that  it  was  hard  "to  be 
perfect,"  "  to  love  the  enemy,"  "  to  forgive 
those  who  trespass  against  us,"  "  to  return 
good  for  evil,"  "  to  take  no  anxious  thought  of 
self,"  "  to  worry  not  over  the  things  of  this 
world,"  to  believe  "  that  our  Heavenly  Father 
feedeth  us,  clotheth  us,  protecteth  us,"  "  to  lose 
one's  own  life  in  the  service  of  others,"  "  to 
resist  evil  by  love  rather  than  by  force."  We 
say  the  Christian  Church  has  always  recog- 
nized that  the  words  of  Jesus  verged  on  the  im- 
possible, that  the  sayings  were  hard.    But  never 

until  this  year  has  a  disposition  manifested 
85 


36  The  Challenge 

itself  among  Christians,  even  among  ministers, 
to  set  aside  the  words  of  Jesus  as  too  high  for 
human  needs,  too  impossible  to  be  useful,  too 
far  removed  from  possibility  of  human  attain- 
ment, too  remote  to  guide  us  in  times  of  stress, 
too  idealistic  for  a  practical  world,  too  un- 
workable to  be  trusted  and  therefore  to  be  set 
aside,  for  the  time  being,  and  the  ideals  of  the 
Old  Testament  substituted  for  them,  or  even 
more  human,  more  primitive  motives  than 
those  of  the  Old  Testament. 

To  be  sure,  suggestions  to  this  effect  have 
come  from  outside  Christianity.  We  remem- 
ber one  of  the  great  Hindu  writers  remarking 
that  Christianity  was  too  beautiful  to  work. 
He  would  keep  the  New  Testament  in  the 
libraries,  he  said,  along  with  the  other  Uto- 
pian schemes  of  history — this  one  most 
Utopian  of  all — then  he  would  put  the  Ten 
Commandments  into  the  hands  of  the  people 
as  the  highest  ideal,  and  expect  nothing  but 
approximation  to  these.  We  remember  his 
naive  remark,  that  "  when  you  found  a  man 
who  loved  his  enemy,  you  could  be  sure  he 
had  strayed  from  heaven  or  was  about  to  go 
there."  Many  of  our  readers  will  remember 
that  the  eminent  Chinese  Ambassador  to  this 
country  of  a  decade  or  so  ago,  speaking  in 


Shall  We  Abandon  the  Impossibles?      37 

New  York,  remarked  that  Confucianism  with 
the  Golden  Rule  as  the  light  of  its  ethics, — 
it  will  be  remembered  that  Confucius  gave  the 
Golden  Rule  as  the  summary  of  religion,  put- 
ting it  in  negative  form — was  much  more 
likely  to  become  the  world  religion  than  Chris- 
tianity with  "  its  impossibles."  Christianity 
was  too  impracticable,  too  idealistic,  a  religion 
for  perfect  men,  for  heaven,  not  earth,  he 
said.  He  went  further,  and  said  it  was  dis- 
couraging because  it  set  the  standard  too  far 
off.  It  was  too  high.  He  drew  his  conclu- 
sions, he  said,  from  watching  Christians.  And 
none  with  whom  he  talked,  with  one  or  two 
exceptions,  ever  seemed  to  be  trying  to  live  by 
Christ's  teachings  or  trying  to  reproduce  his 
real  life  in  the  world.  He  even  intimated  that 
any  government  which  might  attempt  to  go 
over  on  to  a  Sermon  on  the  Mount  basis  to- 
morrow would  have  to  go  out  of  business  at 
once. 

In  1903  a  little  volume  was  published  by 
McClure,  Phillips  and  Company  entitled, 
"  Letters  from  a  Chinese  Official :  An  Eastern 
View  of  Western  Civilization."  Curiously 
enough  it  gives  utterance  to  the  same  thoughts 
Li  Hung  Chang  spoke,  and  almost  in  the  same 
language.     He  observes :  "  I  cannot  see  that 


38  The  Challenge 

your  society  is  based  upon  religion  at  all;  nor 
does  that  surprise  me,  if  I  have  rightly  appre- 
hended the  character  of  Christianity.  For  the 
ideal  which  I  seem  to  find  enshrined  in  your 
gospels  and  embodied  in  the  discussions  of 
your  divines,  is  one  not  of  labour  on  earth,  but 
of  contemplation  in  heaven;  not  of  the  unity 
of  the  human  race,  but  of  the  communion  of 
saints."  A  distinguished  Mohammedan  has 
made  the  same  criticism  of  Christianity — its 
ideals  too  high,  its  demands  too  great.  And 
even  the  Jewish  rabbis  have  criticized  it  on 
the  same  ground. 

But  never,  until  this  year,  have  Christians 
themselves  showed  any  marked  disposition  to 
acquiesce  in  these  accusations,  and  exclaim 
with  the  enemy :  "  These  are  hard  sayings ;  we 
cannot  hear  them."  The  Church  has  clung  to 
them  in  spite  of  every  discouragement,  in  spite 
of  attack  of  enemy  and  sceptic,  in  spite  of  the 
criticism  of  those  who  find  prudence  the  high- 
est form  of  excellence,  in  spite  of  the  scorn 
of  the  worldly  and  the  sinner,  in  spite  of  the 
fact  that  the  ideal  is  still  far  off.  For  she  has 
seen  that  a  religion  to  be  of  any  service  must 
be  one  in  which  aspiration  is  forever  the  chief 
and  commanding  characteristic.  As  Brierley 
once  said,   "  Its  call  must  be  to  the  infinite 


Shall  We  Abandon  the  Impossibles?      39 

within  him,  and  the  morality  it  offers  must 
partake  of  that  infinitude."  The  moment  re- 
ligion is  not  an  aspiration,  but  is  an  easy  ful- 
filment, that  moment  men  abandon  it  as  a 
religion.  Religion  is  a  striving  rather  than 
an  easy  attainment.  And  it  has  been  just  this 
putting  of  an  immediate  impossible  moral  im- 
perative before  the  world  that  has  kept  the 
Church  alive  through  two  thousand  years — 
years  that  have  seen  other  religions  rise  and 
fall.  It  has  been  its  great  appeal  and  its  power. 
If  history  teaches  one  oustanding  truth,  it  is 
this :  "  Because  Christianity  in  its  ethic  opens 
this  moral  infinite  it  has  been  the  inspiration 
of  the  world." 

The  Church  has  also  recognized  that  to  get 
man's  mind  off  the  commonplace  and  to  lift 
it  out  of  the  level  of  animal  passion  and 
selfishness,  an  inspiration,  an  offer,  an  ideal, 
a  standard  infinitely  above  where  perhaps  it 
can  immediately  rise,  is  necessary.  We  have 
to  hitch  humanity  to  a  star  even  to  pull  it  out 
of  the  ditch,  and  set  it  on  the  level,  or  on  a 
little  hill.  And  the  world  has  been  lifted  by 
slow  stages,  little  by  little,  because  of  this 
great  ideal.  Wherever  there  has  been  any 
moral  progress,  it  has  been  where  this  ideal 
was  never  lowered.     It  was  just  those  ages 


40  The  Challenge 

when  the  Church  was  tempted  to  lower  it  a 
little,  that  we  call  "  the  dark  ages." 

Furthermore,  the  Church  has  recognized 
that  some  men  since  Jesus  have  approximated, 
through  the  grace  of  God  and  the  power  of 
Christ,  this  very  command  of  perfectness. 
She  has  had  her  John,  Paul,  Augustine,  Fran- 
cis, Elizabeth,  a  Kempis,  Elizabeth  Fry,  John 
Fox,  Drummond,  Whittier,  Phillips  Brooks, 
and  many  more  who  came  near  enough  to  this 
ideal  to  make  her  believe  that  these  impossibles 
are  possible  for  man,  when  he  will  take  his 
own  gospel  seriously  and  have  faith  in  it. 
And  in  spite  of  all  the  evil  of  the  world,  the 
Church  has  had  courage  to  believe  Christ,  and 
that  while  these  heights  might,  at  present,  be 
unscalable.  He  intended  that  men  should  some 
time  live  on  them  as  their  home.  She  would 
not  let  the  scientist  have  more  faith  in  her 
Lord  than  has  she  herself.  For  John  Fiske, 
predicting  the  time  when  the  altruism  of  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount  should  have  become  the 
normal  social  principle,  and  referring  to  the 
fact  that  Christ's  doctrine  was  a  foresight  of 
the  moral  world  process  and  its  result,  asks, 
in  the  light  of  evolution :  "  When  have  we 
ever  before  held  such  a  clue  to  the  meaning 
of  Christ  as  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount? 


Shall  We  Abandon  the  Impossibles?      41 

*  Blessed  are  the  meek,  for  they  shall  inherit 
the  earth.'  In  the  cruel  strife  of  centuries  has 
it  not  often  seemed  as  if  the  earth  were  to  be 
rather  the  prize  of  the  hardest  heart  and  the 
strongest  fist?  To  many  men  these  words  of 
Christ  have  been  as  foolishness  and  as  a  stum- 
bling block,  and  the  ethics  of  the  Sermon  on 
the  Mount  have  been  openly  derided  as  too 
good  for  this  world.  .  .  .  Man  is  slowly  pass- 
ing from  a  primitive  social  state  in  which  he 
was  little  better  than  a  brute  towards  an  ulti- 
mate social  state  in  which  his  character  shall 
have  become  so  transformed  that  nothing  of 
the  brute  can  be  detected  in  it." 

So  the  Church  has  stood  firm  for  the  New 
Testament  ideal.  Never  insisting  that  men 
should  live  up  to  it,  never  expecting  too  much 
of  humanity — perhaps  never  expecting  quite 
enough — never  quite  daring  to  believe  her  own 
gospel,  never  preaching  Christ's  ideal  in  its 
entirety  or  with  great  courage,  yet  she  has 
never,  and  so  far  as  we  remember,  none  of 
her  leaders  have,  until  this  3^ear  openly  denied 
them  as  the  guiding  principles  of  Christianity 
or  hinted  that  they  do  not  apply  to  the  world 
of  strong  and  living  men.  To  our  mind  it  is 
the  most  ominous  thing  the  war  has  brought 
forth.    And,  worst  of  all,  it  is  manifesting  it- 


42  The  Challenge 

self  in  America.  One  might  expect  the  half 
frantic  leaders  of  the  German  and  English 
churches  to  desert  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount, 
but  it  is  ominous  when  America,  supposedly 
still  in  her  senses,  should  do  so.  Americans 
were  shocked  when,  a  year  ago,  some  German 
theological  professors  began  praising  Moham- 
medanism and  pointing  out  its  close  affiliation 
with  Christianity,  for  the  one  thing  of  which 
there  is  not  a  vestige  in  Mohammedanism  is 
the  forgiving,  merciful,  loving  spirit  of  the 
teachings  of  Jesus.  We  were  shocked  when, 
last  summer,  we  heard  German  clergymen  ar- 
guing that  nations  should  not  be  bound  by 
Christian  ethics,  indeed  could  not  be.  We 
were  shocked  at  the  preaching  of  hatred  as  a 
"holy  thing"  by  certain  German  clergymen. 
We  were  shocked  when  that  same  hatred  was 
preached  from  some  English  pulpits.  We 
were  shocked  when  some  English  Christians 
urged  horrible  reprisals  against  Germany  after 
the  Zeppelin  raids.  We  were  shocked  when 
one  of  the  most  famous  of  English  preachers 
pictured  Christ  with  a  bayonet  charging  against 
the  foe.  But  now,  in  our  own  land,  something 
of  the  same  spirit  is  suddenly  beginning  to 
manifest  itself,  and  Christian  leaders,  even 
clergymen,  carried  away  by  the  war  fever,  are 


Shall  We  Abandon  the  Impossibles?      43 

beginning  to  preach  sentiments  utterly  at  vari- 
ance with  the  words  of  Jesus. 

We  are  not  indulging  in  generalities.  We 
have  been  making  a  careful  study  of  many 
utterances  by  Christian  pastors  and  laymen, 
called  forth  by  the  discussion  on  "  prepared- 
ness "  and  President  Wilson's  course  toward 
Mexico  and  toward  Germany.  To  take  one  or 
two  examples :  A  well-known  doctor  of  di- 
vinity, editor  of  a  great  paper,  devotes  one  of 
his  leading  editorials  to  prove  that  Jesus  was 
an  apostle  of  force,  and  in  the  course  of  it 
occurs  this  sentence  :  "  John  portrays  Jesus  as 
going  forth  as  a  conqueror  on  horseback  in 
righteousness  to  make  war!  "  What  becomes 
of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  in  the  face  of 
such  an  editorial?  A  militant  clergyman  on 
the  Pacific  coast  has  been  justifying  war  out 
of  the  Bible.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  he 
used  the  Old  Testament.  The  justifiers  of 
slavery  used  the  Bible,  it  will  be  remembered. 
In  a  recent  speech,  one  of  those  who  is  urging 
that  this  nation  arm  to  the  teeth,  contemptu- 
ously referred  to  the  "other  checkers."  (It 
will  be  remembered  that  the  words  are 
Christ's.)  If  one  should  take  the  book  just 
published  by  the  leading  advocate  of  force, 
in  this  nation,  and  print  it  in  parallel  columns 


44.  The  Challenge 

with  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  he  would  im- 
mediately see  that  they  contradicted  each  other 
in  every  sentence.  Recently  a  distinguished 
clergyman,  in  a  company  of  ministers,  raised 
the  question  whether  the  United  States  might 
not  lead  off,  as  the  first  nation  to  undertake 
such  a  high,  Christlike  task,  and  practise  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount  toward  other  nations, 
and  he  was  almost  violently  opposed  by  large 
numbers  of  the  clergy  present.  Many  of  these 
sermons  openly  advocate  that  the  chief  duty 
of  a  nation  is  to  protect  itself.  (Jesus  said, 
in  every  instance,  without  any  exception  that 
the  chief  duty  in  life  was  service  to 
others.)  A  man  came  forth  from  church  the 
other  day  remarking  that  the  sentence  which 
lingered  longest  in  his  mind,  out  of  a  militant 
sermon,  was  this :  "  We  ought  to  be  prepared 
to  lick  any  nation  on  the  earth."  The  lesson 
that  day  may  have  contained  these  words, 
"  Ye  have  heard  that  it  hath  been  said,  thou 
shalt  love  thy  neighbour,  and  hate  thine  enemy. 
But  I  say  unto  you,  Love  your  enemies."  But 
no,  any  one  who  suggests  that  the  United 
States  act  toward  other  nations  as  Christ  asked 
us  to  act  toward  our  neighbours,  act  as  Chris- 
tian gentlemen  act,  is  called  a  "  pacifist "  and 
derided.    But  remember,  when  you  deride  the 


Shall  We  Abandon  the  Impossibles?      45 

pacifists,  you  deride  the  author  of  the  Sermon 
on  the  Mount,  for  that  is  their  creed.  In  a 
recent  debate  on  preparedness  in  New  York  a 
well-known  clergyman  so  held  up  the  principles 
of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  to  ridicule  (with- 
out, of  course,  naming  that  fundamental  pro- 
nouncement of  the  Lord)  that  an  eminent  citi- 
zen remarked  the  next  day :  "I  believe 
in  preparedness  in  a  slight  degree  above  that 
obtaining  in  this  country.  But  I  must  confess 
that  that  gentleman's  remarks  struck  me  as 
disagreeable,  coming  from  a  clergyman." 

We  could  multiply  instances,  but  will  quote 
but  one  more,  one  which  shows  just  where  this 
whole  tendency  to  distrust  the  teachings  of 
Jesus, — love,  good-will,  mercy,  character,  what 
we  are  rather  than  what  we  can  do — as  the 
best  defence  of  a  nation,  and  to  put  our  trust 
in  force  and  go  forth  to  slay,  logically  ends. 
It  is  a  quotation  from  a  journal  edited  by 
Christians,  "  The  Seven  Seas,"  the  organ  of 
the  Navy  League :  "It  is  absolutely  right  for 
a  nation  to  live  its  fullest  intensity,  to  expand, 
to  found  colonies,  to  get  richer  and  richer  by 
any  proper  means,  such  as  armed  conquests." 
An  apology  for  Germany?  Oh  no,  for  us. 
For  the  next  sentence  reads :  "  In  the  case  of 
the  United  States,  this  is  a  particular  duty." 


46  The  Challenge 

If  we  need  more  "  preparedness  "  all  right. 
It  is  a  question  for  experts  to  determine.  But 
in  the  eagerness  of  good  church  members  and 
some  clergymen  to  get  it  are  they  really  ready 
to  throw  over  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  and 
other  words  of  Jesus  as  the  ethic  of  society? 
God  help  the  Church  and  the  nation,  too,  if  as 
a  Church  she  should  do  this.  For  the  day  we 
leave  Christ  as  our  Lord  and  put  Force  in  his 
place  we  shall  be — well,  we  may  be  where 
Europe  is ;  but,  anyhow,  we  shall  sink  back  to 
those  who  follow  the  easily  attainable.  And, 
so  far,  in  the  history  of  the  world,  these  have 
never  risen  above  their  own  base  instincts. 


IV 


MILITARISM  OR  PACIFISM :  WHICH 
WILL  WIN? 

THE  militarist  is  one  who  believes  that 
his  nation  should  go  on  making  prepara- 
tion to  settle  disputes  with  other  na- 
tions by  the  old  methods  of  arms  and  force. 

The  pacifist  is  one  who  believes  that  his 
nation,  while  supplying  reasonable  armament 
for  policing  land  and  sea,  should  be  making 
preparation  to  settle  disputes  with  other  na- 
tions by  the  new  methods  of  judicial  pro- 
cedure, leagues  of  nations,  world  courts,  and 
councils  of  conciliation. 

The  militarist  looks  to  the  past  and  trusts 
to  the  old  methods. 

The  pacifist  looks  to  the  future  and  trusts 
to  the  new. 

The  militarist,  as  a  general  thing,  quotes  the 
Old  Testament. 

The  pacifist  uses  the  New  Testament  almost 
exclusively,  and  finds  basis  for  his  gospel,  that 
nations  should  live  by  the  same  principles  as 
47 


48  The  Challenge 

those  by  which  decent  individuals  live,  in  al- 
most every  word  of  Christ. 

There  has  been  an  age-long  strife  between 
militarism  and  pacifism  since  the  first  great 
Pacifist,  Jesus,  enunciated  His  gospel  of  good- 
will among  men ;  the  brotherhood  of  man,  the 
forgiveness  of  the  enemy;  love,  the  test  of  per- 
fection ;  the  saving  of  the  enemy  a  higher  vic- 
tory than  killing  him;  mission  the  doctrine  of 
life  rather  than  rights.  This,  which  is  the 
creed  of  the  pacifist,  fell  into  a  world  where 
militarism  only  was  triumphant.  Curiously 
enough  it  made  a  good  many  converts,  even 
in  the  midst  of  that  world,  saturated  with  mili- 
tarism, and  with  no  law  but  force.  The  early 
Christians  would  not  bear  arms,  and  prac- 
tically every  one  of  the  Church  Fathers  record 
this  fact.  But  militarism  soon  got  the  control 
of  the  Church,  and  it  has  controlled  it,  as  a 
whole,  ever  since.  Here  has  been  its  great 
apostasy,  and  not  in  the  realm  of  theology. 

But  there  have  always  been  enough  prophetic 
men  in  the  Church  to  keep  pacifism  alive. 
Erasmus  spent  his  life  studying  the  New  Tes- 
tament, and  he  was  driven  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  settlement  of  disputes  between  nations 
by  war  was  contrary  to  the  whole  word  of 
Christ.    He  said  it  was  "  the  method  of  cats." 


Militarism  or  Pacifism  49 

Grotius  studied  the  gospels  and  became  con- 
vinced that  they  were  opposed  to  war  and  he, 
the  first  great  constructive  pacifist,  suggested 
a  world  court.  Emanuel  Kant,  the  first  pacifist 
among  philosophers,  wrote  his  great  Christian 
tract  "  Eternal  Peace,"  in  which  he  insisted 
that  courts  must  supplant  war,  federations  of 
nations  supplant  selfish  individualism,  treaties 
supplant  guns,  democracy  supplant  dynasties. 

Ever  since  the  days  of  Erasmus,  each  gen- 
eration has  had  a  witness  for  the  Christian 
doctrine  of  justice  and  good-will  as  the  law 
of  international  relationships.  There  is  not 
time  to  mention  them  here,  except  those  of  our 
own  land.  For  the  strife  between  militarism, 
that  is,  the  doctrine  of  armament,  and  pacifism, 
that  is,  the  doctrine  of  judicial  methods,  con- 
ciliation and  good-will,  has  suddenly  reached 
an  acute  stage  in  our  own  land.  Early  in  our 
history,  pacifism,  the  Christian  method,  had 
its  noble  advocates.  They  did  not  represent 
the  Church  as  a  whole,  for,  until  within  the 
last  twenty-five  years  the  Church  in  America 
has  stood  for  militarism  as  it  has  in  Germany 
and  Great  Britain.  But  they  represented  the 
Christian  teaching  and  the  doctrine  of  the 
early  Church  on  this  point.  They  are  a  noble 
list.     To  mention  only  a  few  of  the  dead: 


60  The  Challenge 

there  were  Ladd,  Burritt,  Sumner,  Whittier, 
Garrison,  Channing,  Dodge,  Worcester,  Cuy- 
ler.  Justice  Brewer,  Edward  Everett  Hale, 
Brooks,  Robert  Treat  Paine,  Josiah  Strong 
and  Smiley.  The  living  number  many  more. 
They  have  made  a  brave  fight  and  have  grad- 
ually seen  their  efforts  bear  fruit,  and  have 
v^on  many  converts  to  their  cause.  They 
played  a  large  part  in  bringing  the  nations  to- 
gether in  Hague  conferences;  they  have  se- 
cured wide  international  organization;  they 
were  largely  responsible  for  the  securing  of 
arbitration  treaties,  and  they  have  successfully 
resisted  all  attempts  to  militarize  the  nation. 

Then  came  the  European  war  with  all  its 
horrors.  The  acts  of  some  of  the  belligerent 
nations  and  the  disposition  manifested  induced 
a  semi-hysterical  state  in  large  bodies  of  the 
people  which  the  militarists  were  quick  to  put 
to  advantage.  They  entered  upon  a  campaign 
for  vast  armament  with  all  the  energies  and 
means  at  their  disposal.  All  kinds  of  defence 
leagues  were  organized  and  the  word  "  pre- 
paredness "  chosen  as  a  slogan.  The  leaders 
are  the  same  men  who  have  been  behind  the 
movement  for  the  last  ten  years.  They  have 
become  alert  to  the  opportunity.  As  one  of 
them  remarked :  "If  we  don't  put  our  pro- 


Militarism  or  Pacifism  51 

gram  over  now,  we  never  can."  They  have 
carried  many  sincere  people  with  them,  but 
one  who  has  studied  the  movement  for  years 
knows  that  it  is  the  same  group  who  ten  years 
ago  were  trying  to  force  upon  Congress  just 
the  same  program  they  are  urging  now — four 
battleships  a  year,  a  standing  army  of  500,000 
men,  payment  of  the  State  militia  and  National 
Guard,  military  training  in  the  public  schools. 
The  only  thing  they  have  added  is  the  demand 
they  are  making  now  for  universal  military 
training. 

Up  to  this  time  the  pacifist  movement  has 
been  able  to  progress  with  little  opposition. 
The  only  opposition  came  from  men  like  Mr. 
Roosevelt  and  the  militarist  group,  who,  with 
him,  opposed  the  passing  of  the  Taft  arbitra- 
tion treaties  wherein  the  United  States  agreed 
to  settle  disputes  with  Great  Britain  and  with 
France  by  arbitration.  But  the  war  had  not 
long  been  in  progress  before  the  contagion  of 
militarism,  fanned  and  whipped  up  by  the 
leaders  of  the  militarist  movement,  who  saw 
their  chance,  seized  upon  certain  classes  of 
people.  And  now  the  fight  is  on  between  the 
militarists  and  the  pacifists  in  our  country  in 
dead  earnest. 

The    pacifist    element    is   no    smaller   nor 


62  The  Challenge 

weaker  than  it  was.  Indeed,  it  is  much  larger 
and  much  stronger  than  ever.  It  is  doubtful 
if  there  were  ever  one  one-hundredth  as  many 
people  in  this  country  who  hated  war  and  all 
preparation  for  it  as  there  are  now.  It  is 
simply  that  those  who  believe  in  the  old  way 
of  war  as  over  against  the  new  way  of  judicial 
processes  have  been  urged  into  action.  Vast 
sums  have  been  spent,  popular  catchwords, 
such  as  patriotism,  nationalism,  and  Ameri- 
canism, have  been  played  upon,  and  mis- 
representations of  the  pacifist  movement  spread 
far  and  wide.  Any  man  who,  to-day,  dares 
utter  a  word  in  favour  of  even  a  constructive 
peace  program  is  immediately  held  up  before 
the  people  by  the  preparedness  leaders  as  un- 
patriotic, un-American,  and  as  lacking  in  hero- 
ism and  courage. 

The  fight  is  on,  and  less  and  less  is  there  any 
middle  ground.  Everybody  can  see  that  dur- 
ing the  last  few  months  the  men  who  are  lead- 
ing the  preparedness  movement  are  dropping 
the  word  anti-preparedness,  and  using  the 
simple  term  "  peace  people  "  or  "  pacifists  " 
when  they  refer  to  those  who  do  not  favour  the 
United  States  following  the  old  and  European 
ideals.  It  is  also  noticeable,  on  the  other  hand, 
how  the  press  is  referring  to  the  advocates 


Militarism  or  Pacifism  53 

•of  armament  not  as  preparedness  people, 
but  as  "  militarists."  It  is  patent  to  the  most 
casual  reader  that  the  great  dailies  are  more 
and  more  using  the  word  military  in  place  of 
the  word  preparedness.  Thus  the  country  is 
rapidly  falling  into  two  groups :  those  who  on 
the  one  hand  advocate  military  preparedness, 
the  old,  European,  Napoleonic,  Prussian  ideal ; 
and  those  who  advocate  judicial  prepared- 
ness, the  new,  Christian,  twentieth  century 
ideal. 

Which  will  win?  We  believe  the  new  will 
win,  because  we  believe  that  the  ultimate  vic- 
tories are  always  with  the  forward-look- 
ing men,  not  with  the  backward.  It  may 
seem,  for  a  moment,  that  the  old  is  winning. 
But  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  "pre- 
paredness "  movement  is  the  most  highly  en- 
gineered movement  of  modern  times.  It  has 
back  of  it  military  forces,  salaried  men,  some 
of  the  best  press  agents,  and  large  sums  of 
money.  Its  promoters  rest  not  night  nor  day. 
They  go  from  one  city  to  another  organizing 
meetings  and  parades.  The  peace  advocates 
have  neither  money  nor  organization.  It  must 
also  be  remembered  that  every  step  toward 
preparedness  means  millions  of  dollars  for 
munition  manufacturers,   battleship  builders, 


54.  The  Challenge 

makers  of  guns  wherewith  to  arm  our  new 
soldiers,  clothing  trades — many  more.  But  in 
spite  of  all  the  immediate  money  gain — the 
greatest  appeal  to  most  men — we  believe  the 
idealists,  the  pacifists,  those  who  wish  to  see 
America  the  moral  leader  of  the  world,  the 
protagonists  of  the  new  order,  will  win,  be- 
cause they  are  forward-looking  men,  and 
because  the  ideal  always  triumphs  in  the 
end. 

There  are  some  encouraging  signs  right 
now.  When  the  Union  against  Militarism 
^saw  President  Wilson,  Miss  Wald  asked  him 
if  there  was  not  an  attempt  being  made  to 
stampede  this  nation  into  militarism.  He 
seemingly  took  it  for  granted  that  there  was, 
and  answered :  "  But  it  is  not  working."  In 
spite  of  everything  it  is  not  working.  Con- 
gress is,  evidently,  going  to  be  satisfied  with  an 
army  of  200,000 — a  mere  fraction  of  what  the 
militarists  want.  All  the  "  preparedness  "  or- 
ganizations and  their  newspapers  are  frantic 
over  it.  Mr.  Henry  A.  Wise  Wood,  one  of 
the  chief  leaders  of  the  militarist  group,  said 
on  May  15,  1916,  "the  Army  bill  is  only  a 
makeshift  and  is  wholly  inadequate,"  and  on 
May  18  came  out  with  a  long  declaration  for 
Colonel  Roosevelt  for  President,  as  "  the  only 


Militarism  or  Pacifism  55 

hope  of  the  nation,"  that  is,  the  only  hope  for 
universal  conscription  and  the  Germanizing  of 
the  people.  The  editorials  of  the  "  New  York 
Times"  and  the  "New  York  Tribune"  ad- 
mit that  the  movement  for  the  great  army  is 
lost  and  are  now  turning  toward  a  big  navy. 
Mr.  Roosevelt  said,  under  date  of  April  26: 
"  Twenty-one  months  have  passed  since  the 
great  war  began,  and  during  all  this  lime  we 
have  not  prepared  in  even  the  smallest  degree 
in  order,  if  possible,  to  avert  war  from  us." 

There  are  more  battleships  to  be  built  this 
year  than  last;  but  the  peace  sentiment  of  the 
nation  was  so  strong  that  it  insisted  that  a 
rider  be  added  to  the  Naval  Appropriation  Act 
which  declares  "  the  policy  of  the  United  States 
to  settle  its  international  disputes  through  medi- 
ation or  arbitration "  and  authorizes  the 
President  to  call  a  conference  of  the  nations 
to  consider  a  World  Court  and  general  dis- 
armament and  if  action  leading  in  this  direc- 
tion is  taken,  to  suspend  construction  of  battle- 
ships called  for  by  this  act. 

The  Ford  votes  were  interesting.  They 
were  no  joke.  They  have  opened  the  eyes 
of  both  Republicans  and  Democrats.  They  in- 
fluenced the  planks  of  both  parties.  The  mili- 
,tarist  movement  is  largely  local  and  largely 


56  The  Challenge 

tory.  It  is  a  local  and  caste  movement.  The 
workers,  the  farmers,  the  industrial  classes 
take  no  interest  in  it.  Neither  is  the  Great 
West  much  concerned  over  it.  C.  M.  Sheldon, 
author  of  "  In  His  Steps,"  writing  from 
Omaha,  says  the  sentiment  is  strongly  the 
other  way,  and  calls  attention  to  the  resolu- 
tions passed  at  the  great  mass  meetings  in  that 
section.  The  votes  for  Mr.  Ford  were  pro- 
tests against  it. 

But,  by  far,  the  most  encouraging  thing  to 
those  who  are  working  for  the  substitution  of 
good-will  for  war,  judicial  processes  for  battle- 
ships, the  new  order  for  the  mediaeval,  is  the 
frank  confession  made  by  Mr.  Roosevelt  in  his 
last  public  utterance,  his  famous  letter  of  April 
24,  in  which  he  pledges  all  his  family  to  go  to 
war  with  Germany  and  in  which  in  an  unwise 
moment  his  indignation  at  those  who  are  work- 
ing for  the  new  internationalism  gets  the  better 
of  his  wisdom  and  he  bursts  out  with  this  re- 
markable confession,  "  The  pacifists  and  anti- 
preparedness  people  have  had  their  will,  and 
our  rulers  at  Washington  have  bowed  to  them 
and  left  us  helpless."  This  is  high  testimony 
coming  from  such  source.  It  claims  more  than 
the  peace  people  have  even  dared  claim. 

We  must  not  let  the  even  seeming  victories 


Militarism  or  Pacifism  67 

of  the  militarists  disturb  us  too  much.  They 
have  wars  and  rumours  of  wars,  hysteria  and 
fears  to  help  them.  The  war  will  close  soon. 
Our  people  will  then  calmly  review  it  and  see 
that  the  cause  of  this  misery  was  just  this 
militarism  "  preparedness  "  groups  are  advo- 
cating. They  will  hear  from  Europe  a  call  for 
a  new  order,  for  Europe  is  getting  fearfully 
wearied  of  just  this  thing  the  reactionary 
groups  are  advocating.  Our  people  will  see  this 
and  will  turn  from  these  reactionaries  to  follow 
the  prophetic  and  forward-looking  men  of  both 
Europe  and  America  in  the  endeavour  for  the 
new  preparedness  of  World  Courts,  Leagues 
of  Nations,  Alliances  of  the  Churches  of  the 
World  for  Good-will,  Unions  for  Democratic 
Control,  Councils  of  Conciliation,  Hague  Con- 
ferences— all  of  those  things  for  which  the 
pacifists  stand  and  for  which  they  are  contend- 
ing while  the  militarists  are  parading  for  the 
old  things — the  things  that  will  pass  away. 
"  Old  things  are  passed  away :  behold  I  make 
all  things  new." 

One  closing  word :  Recently  we  received  a 
letter  in  which  this  line  occurred :  "  Is  it  not 
discouraging  to  see  a  hundred  ministers  parad- 
ing for  guns  and  shrapnel  as  the  basis  of  the 
civilization  of  their  Prince  of   Peace?     Can 


58  The  Challenge 

they  be  sincere?  Do  they  endorse  the  utter- 
ances of  the  men  and  societies  which  got  up 
that  parade,  such  as  an  army  of  a  million,  all 
our  boys  taught  to  shoot,  i.e.,  to  kill  their 
brothers  of  other  lands,  universal  conscription, 
and  the  utterance  of  the  Navy  League's  paper 
that  the  Government  should  take  new  terri- 
tory by  force  as  it  needs  it — the  creed  we  have 
been  condemning  in  Germany?"  In  answer 
let  us  say,  we  believe  these  men  sincere,  and 
we  do  not  think  that  all  of  them  would  en- 
dorse the  whole  platforms  of  the  militarist 
groups.  It  must  be  remembered  that  the  min- 
istry is  no  exception  to  other  professions. 
There  are  always  in  it  those  who  follow  the 
crowd,  who  are  easily  stampeded,  who  are  al- 
ways looking  backward,  who  lack  the  prophet's 
vision,  who  rest  in  the  old  and  are  distrustful 
of  the  new.  It  has  been  in  every  movement, 
from  the  anti-slavery  movement  down,  that 
many  ministers  were  on  the  side  of  the  old  and 
passing  order.  Some  one  remarked  to  us,  the 
day  after  the  one  hundred  ministers  paraded 
in  what  the  "  New  York  Times  "  called  "  The 
Military  Parade  "  :  "  The  ministers  were  there, 
but  not  the  ministers  the  young  men  of  Amer- 
ica are  following,  not  the  leaders  in  the  new 
social  gospel,  not  the  leaders  in  the  new  inter- 


Militarism  or  Pacifism  59 

nationalism  that  is  rising  on  the  world."  We 
offer  no  comment,  but  it  is  significant  that  the 
ministers  in  the  parade  were  just  the  ministers 
who  did  not  come  to  Garden  City  to  take  part 
in  the  World  Alliance  Conference  called  to 
enlist  the  churches  of  this  nation  in  an  attempt 
to  substitute  good-will  in  international  rela- 
tionships for  suspicions  and  jealousies,  and  to 
see  what  the  churches  could  do  to  help  the 
world  find  some  better  way  than  war  for  the 
settlement  of  international  disputes. 

In  this  connection  we  would  quote  the  fol- 
lowing words  from  Dr.  Charles  E.  Jefferson, 
pastor  of  Broadway  Tabernacle,  New  York: 
"  We  are  on  the  threshold  of  a  new  age. 
Some  nation  must  lead.  That  nation  ought  to 
be  the  United  States.  If  the  United  States  is 
to  lead,  then  Christian  men  must  show  the 
way.  If  Christian  men  are  to  show  the  way, 
then  the  Christian  pulpit  ought  to  sound  the 
note  of  advance.  It  is  useless  to  expect  the 
whole  world  to  advance  with  all  the  nations 
abreast.  One  nation  must  move  ahead  of  the 
others.  It  is  foolish  to  expect  all  branches  of 
the  Christian  Church  to  advance  shoulder  to 
shoulder.  One  branch  must  be  ahead  of  the 
others.     It  is  unreasonable  to  expect  all  the 


60  The  Challenge 

ministers  to  agree.  Some  must  go  ahead  of 
the  others.  There  will  be  a  difference  among 
them  now  as  there  was  in  the  days  of  slavery. 
The  signatures  of  those  for  slavery  and  the 
signatures  of  those  against  slavery  now  fur- 
nish interesting  reading.  The  ministers  who 
to-day  apologize  for  war,  and  who  see  no  sure 
defence  for  a  nation  except  in  howitzers  and 
dreadnoughts,  and  who  think  that  America  at 
the  present  crisis  can  do  nothing  better  for  the 
advancement  of  humanity  than  to  increase  the 
thickness  of  her  armour,  are  as  intelligent, 
and  learned,  and  honest,  and  conscientious,  and 
pious  as  the  ministers  who  do  not  agree  with 
them.  Somebody  must  be  mistaken.  A  high 
ecclesiastical  position  is  no  guarantee  of  spirit- 
ual insight.  Every  man  must  walk  by  the 
light  he  has,  and  it  is  not  until  generations 
have  passed  that  the  world  can  see  clearly 
which  prophets  were  false  and  which  were 
true,  which  leaders  were  foolish  and  which 
were  wise.  Every  man  must  stand  by  the 
right  as  it  is  given  him  to  see  the  right,  and 
leave  the  result  to  God.  In  the  fifties  the 
Tabernacle  had  a  pastor  who  always,  with 
boldness,  wrote  his  name  down  among  the 
abolitionists,  and  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1916 
the  Tabernacle  has  a  pastor  who,  with  glad- 


Militarism  or  Pacifism  61 

ness,  writes  his  name  in  the  list  of  those  who 
denounce  war  as  stupid  and  cruel  and  wicked, 
who  condemn  armed  peace  as  a  policy  that  is 
mistaken,  and  mischievous  and  fatal,  and  who 
advise  our  Government  to  wait  until  the  war 
is  ended,  before  committing  itself  more  fully 
to  the  disastrous  program  which  has  over- 
whelmed Europe  with  ruin." 

Neither  must  we  fall  into  the  habit  of  think- 
ing New  York  City  leads  the  nation.  While 
the  ministers  of  the  New  York  churches  were 
signing  the  letter  endorsing  the  call  to  arm 
made  in  a  speech  before  the  New  York  Cham- 
ber of  Commerce,  the  following  really  Chris- 
tian resolutions  were  being  passed  by  three 
great  bodies  of  ministers  on  the  Pacific  Coast 
("Westward  the  course  of  empire  takes  its 
way"),  the  California  State  Church  Federa- 
tion, the  Los  Angeles  Ministerial  Union,  and 
Southern  California  Methodist  Preachers* 
Meeting : 

"  Whereas,  There  is  in  this  world-Wcir  crisis 
a  recrudescence  of  the  spirit  of  militarism, 
which  has  attempted  to  drag  the  United  States 
into  the  world  war,  or,  failing  in  that,  to 
stampede  our  lawmakers,  under  the  guise  of 
preparedness,  into  an  elaborate  plan  of  mili- 
tary enlargement,  calling  for  not  only  an  im- 


62  The  Challenge 

mediate  expenditure  of  billions  of  money,  but 
the  inauguration  of  a  plan  involving  us  in  end- 
less further  appropriations  of  money  and 
necessitating  compulsory  military  service  of 
vast  numbers  of  our  men  for  such  military 
duty;  and, 

"  Whereas,  It  is  the  duty  of  God-fearing  men 
to  increase  in  the  world  the  stock  of  good- 
will, and  to  devise  means  by  which  the  recur- 
rence of  the  present  world  tragedy  may  be  ren- 
dered impossible;  and, 

"  Whereas,  The  United  States,  because  of  its 
position  and  power  and  traditions,  is  under 
bonds  to  do  what  it  can  toward  the  shaping 
of  the  opinion  of  nations  and  the  moulding  of 
a  new  and  nobler  world  policy ; 

"  Be  it  resolved,  That  we  look  with  disfavour 
upon  any  plan  to  increase  the  army  and  navy 
at  this  time  beyond  what  would  be  the  regular 
accession  to  their  strength  by  the  application 
of  the  prevailing  appropriations,  which  would 
seem  entirely  adequate,  amounting  to  over 
$300,000,000  annually. 

''Be  it  further  resolved.  That  we  call  upon 
all  Christian  citizens  and  upon  our  representa- 
tives in  Congress  to  keep  in  mind  that  the  Re- 
public is  the  friend  and  brother  of  all  contend- 
ing nations,  and  that  we  wish  to  manifest  to 


Militarism  or  Pacifism  63 

them  the  spirit  of  brotherhood  in  this  trying 
hour  of  human  history." 

It  is  for  every  young  minister  to  decide  at 
once  whether  he  will  throw  in  his  lot  with 
the  militarists  who  are  looking  backward  and 
urging  the  old  method  of  arming  to  settle  in- 
ternational disputes  or  with  the  pacifists  who 
are  looking  forward  and  urging  the  new  and 
Christian  method  of  conciliation,  judicial  proc- 
esses, all  mankind  one's  countrymen.  There 
is  no  via  media  any  longer.  There  is  no  more 
doubt  to  which  side  will  come  the  victory  in 
the  future  than  there  was  to  which  side  it 
would  come  in  the  years  when  Wilberforce, 
Whittier,  Theodore  Parker,  and  Garrison  said 
slavery  must  end.  and  some  ministers  said 
"  no;  it  is  Scriptural." 


V 

THE  PRESENT  CONDITION  OF  CHRIS- 
TIANITY IN  THE  WARRING 
NATIONS 

THIS  is  not  a  topic  on  which  one  should 
be  too  dogmatic,  at  just  this  time.  Of 
all  times  in  the  world,  the  present 
would  be  hardest  to  define,  to  describe,  or  even 
to  see  as  it  really  is.  All  conditions  are  ab- 
normal. Nations  are  half  mad,  frenzied, 
keyed  up,  and  no  expression,  either  of  faith  or 
hate,  should  be  given  too  much  credence. 
Nations  are  intoxicated  and  say  things,  as 
intoxicated  men  always  do,  which  are  exag- 
gerations of  the  belief  or  feelings  of  the  nor- 
mal man.  One  has  a  striking  illustration  in 
Lissauer's  "  Hymn  of  Hate  "  against  England. 
He  and  all  Germany  sang  it  heartily  a  year 
ago.  Now  they  are  all — even  the  author — 
ashamed  of  it,  and  disavowing  it.  Then,  too, 
the  war  has  reacted  in  two  utterly  diverse  di- 
rections upon  the  masses  of  Europe,  and  the 
end  is  not  yet.  We  shall  try  to  show,  from 
64 


Present  Condition  of  Christianity        65 

what  testimony  we  can  gather,  these  two  re- 
actions on  the  rehgious  faith  of  Europe.  One 
has  been  of  agnosticism,  the  other  of  deeper 
faith. 

The  war  has  produced  thousands  of  agnos- 
tics both  in  Europe  and  America.  We  have 
watched  the  European  and  American  papers 
with  much  interest  to  find  letters  and  articles 
on  this  subject,  and  we  have  an  interesting  col- 
lection. This  reaction  is  not  confined  to 
Europe  only,  but  has  found  wide  expression 
in  America.  It  is  an  agnosticism  toward  man 
as  well  as  toward  God.  A  well-known  New 
York  physician  remarked  to  us  not  long  ago: 
"  I  have  lost  my  faith  in  humanity.  I  can- 
not see  that  these  millions  of  men  now  en- 
gaged in  blowing  each  other's  heads  off,  and 
hating  each  other  with  a  hatred  not  found  even 
in  wolves,  are  one  whit  better  than  our  old 
cave-dwelling  ancestors.  The  only  difference 
is,  the  modern  savage  has  guns,  while  the 
ancient  had  only  clubs."  Perhaps  the  most 
striking  expression  of  this  reaction  that  has 
been  uttered  in  America  has  come  from  ex- 
President  Eliot.  He  writes  in  a  letter  to  the 
"  New  York  Times  "  as  follows :  "  For  nine- 
teen hundred  years  the  ethics  of  Jesus  of 
Nazareth  have  been  in  the  world  but  have  had 


66  The  Challenge 

no  effect  to  prevent  or  even  reduce  the  evils 
of  war,  the  greatest  of  the  evils  which  afflict 
mankind.  The  ethical  doctrines  of  Christian- 
ity in  regard  to  justice,  humility  and  mercy 
have  not  found  expression  in  the  relations  be- 
tween Christian  nations,  whether  in  peace  or 
at  war,  or  indeed  in  the  history  of  institutional 
Christianity  itself.  At  this  moment  none  of 
the  Christian  churches  has  had  any  influence 
to  prevent  the  catastrophe  which  has  over- 
taken Europe.  They  are  all  alike  in  this  re- 
spect— Greek,  Roman,  Lutheran  and  Angli- 
can. Each  national  church  supports  the 
national  government,  and  every  ruler  is  as  sure 
of  his  God's  approval  as  ever  Israel  was  of 
Jehovah's;  and  within  each  nation  all  the  re- 
ligions represented — Hebrew,  Catholic,  Prot- 
estant and  Mohammedan — unite  in  the  sup- 
port of  the  national  government  gone  to  war. 
So  far  as  the  advent  of  universal  peace  is  con- 
cerned, one  form  of  Christianity  is  as  good  as 
another;  and  all  are  helpless." 

If  President  Eliot  stood  alone  it  would  be 
different;  but  he  represents  a  great  number, 
as  the  widespread  evidence  shows.  Only  the 
other  day  a  great  man  said :  "  Christianity  can- 
not stand  this  sort  of  thing  many  times  more." 
We  recently  opened  a  copy  of  one  of  the  most 


Present  Condition  of  Christianity        67 

widely  circulated  weeklies  in  America,  "  Life," 
and  the  first  words  that  met  our  eyes  were 
these :  "  This  war  has  stunned  a  good  many 
people.  They  think  it  is  not  a  Christian  exer- 
cise, and  they  ask  themselves  what  Christianity 
has  been  about — what  good  it  is — if  such  a  war 
can  tear  up  the  most  Christianized  continent  on 
the  globe."  In  the  "  New  York  Sun "  for 
several  weeks  a  discussion  on  this  question  of 
the  effect  of  the  war  upon  Christianity  was 
conducted  on  the  correspondence  page,  and 
this  feeling  found  an  echo  in  almost  every 
letter. 

In  Great  Britain,  the  instances  of  distrust 
of  the  capacity  of  organized  Christianity  to 
effect  any  vital  regeneration  have  assumed 
more  an  agnosticism  toward  the  Church  than 
toward  the  Christianity  of  the  New  Testament. 
The  common  cry  is  that  the  Church  has  turned 
its  back  upon  the  Christian  teachings  and  there 
is  no  hope  in  it,  but  that  real  Christianity  has 
never  been  tried.  If  tried,  it  would  redeem 
the  nations.  There  are  many  striking  inci- 
dents of  this  reaction.  Thus  Rev.  Richard 
Roberts,  one  of  the  most  brilliant  of  the 
younger  English  preachers,  has  resigned  his 
fine  Presbyterian  church  on  just  this  ground. 
His  letters  of  resignation  take  the  ground  that 


68  The  Challenge 

the  Church  has  failed  of  her  great  mission  and 
has  no  word  to  say  in  the  great  crisis.  In  a 
recent  essay  on  "  Christian  Duty  in  War 
Time,"  he  says :  "  This  world  order  in  which 
war  is  inherent  the  Church  exists  to  transform. 
Consequently  when  the  Church  ranges  itself  in 
support  of  the  method  of  war  it  is  not  only 
proclaiming  its  own  failure,  but  it  is  hauling 
down  its  own  flag  and  hoisting  instead  the 
flag  of  the  world.  It  is  giving  its  case  away 
and  '  queering  its  own  pitch.'  Christian  lead- 
ers who  have  given  their  blessing  to  this  war 
will  be  hard  put  to  it  at  the  close  of  the  war 
to  meet  the  arguments  of  the  militarists. 
They  have  in  this  instance  subscribed  to  the 
doctrine  of  force,  and  it  will  be  used  in  evi- 
dence against  them."  In  this  same  essay  Mr. 
Roberts  utters  words  on  the  truth  of  which 
we  believe  lies  the  whole  possibility  of  ever 
getting  rid  of  war:  "If  the  New  Testament 
view  is  to  be  retained  it  is  plainly  contained 
in  it  that  a  British  Christian  should  be  sen- 
sible of  closer  kinship  with  a  German  Christian 
than  with  a  Briton  who  is  not  a  Christian, 
That  this  is  not  actually  so  is  simply  an  ad- 
ditional piece  of  evidence  of  the  modern 
Church's  failure  to  realize  all  the  implications 
of  its  basal  principles.     If  the  avowed  Chris- 


Present  Condition  of  Christianity        69 

tians  of  Germany,  Great  Britain,  Austria, 
France  and  Russia  had  been  really  conscious 
of  their  unity  in  Christ,  and  had  declined  to 
go  forth  to  kill  one  another,  there  would  have 
been  no  war." 

A  preacher  in  Oxford  recently  used  these 
words :  "  It  is  impossible  for  any  honest 
clergyman  to  avoid  preaching  about  the  war. 
Strictly  speaking,  there  is  nothing  else  to 
preach  about.  The  war  affects  all  the  great 
topics  of  religion  and  all  the  great  problems 
of  philosophy,  throwing  them  into  a  new  light 
and  setting  them  in  a  new  context.  Whatever 
we  might  say  about  these  things,  the  war 
would  make  comments  and  perhaps  challenge 
the  truth  of  our  words.  If  you  mention  the 
name  of  God,  the  War  replies,  *  What  do  you 
mean  by  that  name?'  If  you  talk  of  Love 
and  Peace,  the  War  says,  *  What  has  become 
of  them?  '  If  you  announce  the  ultimate  tri- 
umph of  Good  over  Evil,  the  War  answers, 
*  Wait  and  see.'  If  you  introduce  the  name 
of  Christ,  the  War  asks,  'What  right  have 
you  to  call  yourself  His  disciple?'  If  you 
mention  Atonement  or  Sacrifice,  the  War  re- 
minds you  that  an  opportunity  is  waiting  to 
put  your  doctrine  into  practice.  If  you  decry 
the  wickedness  of  war,  the  War  decries  the 


70  The  Challenge 

greater  wickedness  of  those  who  stay  at  home 
and  enjoy  the  blessings  for  which  others  are 
fighting.    And  so  it  goes  on." 

In  an  article  in  the  "  Yale  Review  "  of  April, 
191 5'  by  Professor  L.  P.  Jacks,  of  Oxford, 
editor  of  "  The  Hibbert  Journal,"  in  which  he 
discusses  the  fact  that  Europe  is  at  last  up 
against  "  The  Real  Thing,"  he  uses  these  sig- 
nificant words :  "  I  think  it  no  exaggeration 
to  say  that  the  Real  Thing  is  bringing  many 
of  us  to  a  condition  of  mind  which  is  favour- 
able to  some  kind  of  spiritual  rebirth.  An 
unaccustomed  honesty  is  being  forced  upon  us. 
Fain  as  we  are  to  go  on  repeating  our  amiable 
generalizations  about  '  Life,'  we  find  that  we 
cannot  repeat  them.  The  Real  Thing  places  a 
finger  on  our  lips,  and  the  words  simply  can- 
not be  spoken.  It  is  not  that  we  are  threat- 
ened with  universal  scepticism ;  the  atmosphere 
is  too  keen  and  the  spirit  too  exalted  to  per- 
mit of  any  such  outcome.  But  we  are  shed- 
ding our  shams  and  our  sophisms  and  our 
empty  phrases.  It  is  only  a  question  of  time, 
and  we  shall  surely  find  something  to  say 
which  we  can  utter  with  a  full  heart.  The 
Real  Thing  is  teaching  us.  But,  once  more, 
shall  we  remember  the  lesson  ?  '  Quick,  thy 
tablets,  memory ! '  " 


Present  Condition  of  Christianity        71 

Not  to  multiply  such  testimonies,  of  which 
there  are  many,  let  me  mention  only  one  more 
— John  Galsworthy's  passionate  outcry  in 
"  Scribner's  Magazine,"  entitled,  "  Thoughts 
on  This  War."    Thus  it  begins: 

"  Three  hundred  thousand  church  spires 
raised  to  the  glory  of  Christ !  Three  hundred 
million  human  beings  baptized  into  His  serv- 
ice !  And — war  to  the  death  of  them  all !  Let 
your  hearts  beat  to  God  and  your  fists  in  the 
face  of  the  enemy !  *  In  prayer  we  call  God's 
blessing  on  our  valiant  troops ! ' 

"  God  on  the  lips  of  each  potentate,  and 
under  three  hundred  thousand  spires  prayer 
that  twenty-two  million  servants  of  Christ 
may  receive  from  God  the  blessed  strength  to 
tear  and  blow  each  other  to  pieces,  to  ravage 
and  burn,  to  wrench  husbands  from  wives, 
fathers  from  their  children,  to  starve  the  poor, 
and  everywhere  destroy  the  works  of  the 
spirit.  Prayer  under  three  hundred  thousand 
spires  for  the  blessed  strength  of  God  to  use 
the  noblest,  most  loyal  instinct  of  the  human 
race  to  the  ends  of  carnage!  God  be  with  us 
to  the  death  and  dishonour  of  our  foes! 
(Whose  God  He  is,  no  less  than  ours.)  The 
God  who  gave  His  only  begotten  Son  to  bring 
on  earth  peace  and  good-will  toward  men !  " 


72  The  Challenge 

We  have  quoted  enough.  We  could  quote 
the  same  things  from  private  German  letters, 
although  the  government  would  not,  of  course, 
allow  such  sentiments  to  be  printed  in  the 
German  press.  We  will  not  quote  any  more, 
but  close  this  side  of  the  discussion  with  re- 
calling the  fact  that  over  four  thousand  young 
men  and  women  in  England  have  practically 
withdrawn  from  the  churches  on  the  same 
grounds  given  by  Mr.  Roberts  and  banded 
themselves  together  in  the  Fellowship  of  Rec- 
onciliation, whose  basis  of  membership  is  the 
teachings  of  Jesus  and  whose  principles  are 
that  love  is  the  great  weapon  and  that  disci- 
ples of  Christ  cannot  make  war  under  any  cir- 
cumstances. Here  are  the  words  of  the 
founder  of  this  group  (Henry  T.  Hodgkin, 
who  stands  to  the  students  of  England  some- 
what as  John  R.  Mott  stands  to  the  students 
of  America):  "What  we  desire  is  that  the 
Church  may  take  her  rightful  place  when  the 
war  is  over,  and  may  at  last  proclaim  a  living 
message  with  prophetic  power,  a  message 
which  shall  direct  the  minds  of  men  to  those 
great  truths  in  obedience  to  which  the  health 
of  the  nations  is  to  be  found.  What  they  fear 
is  that  she  may  lose  her  chance  of  proclaim- 
ing that  message  then,  because  now  she  has 


Present  Condition  of  Christianity        73 

not  spoken  with  the  note  of  reality  and  con- 
viction, and  because  she  has  not  dared  to  face 
the  full  meaning  of  the  problem  involved  in 
this  war," 

But  if  one  of  the  reactions  of  this  war  has 
been  scepticism  toward  both  God  and  man 
there  is  no  doubt  but  that  the  war  has  reacted 
for  a  real  and  deeper  faith  in  thousands  of 
men,  both  those  engaged  in  it  and  those  watch- 
ing it.  The  seriousness  of  life  has  come  over 
the  men  at  the  front.  They  are  face  to  face 
with  terrible  things,  and  death  runs  back  and 
forth  among  them,  their  most  familiar  com- 
rade. It  is  no  wonder  that  these  poor  fellows, 
who  had  no  part  in  starting  the  war,  many  of 
them  mere  boys  not  knowing  what  it  is  all 
about,  pawns  in  the  hands  of  the  player  safe 
in  Petrograd  or  Berlin — we  say  it  is  no  won- 
der that  to  these  boys  there  should  come  a  new 
sense  of  their  dependence  on  God,  of  their 
nearness  to  eternal  things.  Rev.  R.  J.  Camp- 
bell has  beautifully  described  this  rebirth  of 
Christian  feeling  among  the  soldiers  with 
whom  he  has  been  working  in  Northern 
France,  Dr.  Adolph  Deissman  in  his  "  Prot- 
estant Weekly  Letter  "  to  Americans  gives  the 
same  testimony  from  young  Germans  at  the 
front.     The  French  papers  have  had  remark- 


74  The  Challenge 

able  stories  of  the  renewed  interest  in  religion 
displayed  by  the  thousands  of  young  men  at 
the  front  who  have  previously  evinced  no  in- 
terest whatever  in  religion. 

What  is  true  of  the  soldiers  at  the  front  is 
also  true  of  the  nation  as  a  whole.  It  has  been 
more  in  evidence  in  the  German  and  French 
nations,  because  they  have  suffered  most.  In 
Germany  the  churches  have  been  filled  with 
people  bowed  in  deep  grief  and  looking  for 
relief  to  God.  Dr.  Deissman  in  one  of  his 
letters  says :  "  The  strong  revival  of  religious 
interest  that  the  war  has  brought  about  with 
us  has  deeply  stirred  our  church  life  through- 
out the  whole  of  evangelical  Germany.  Quite 
a  number  of  our  clergymen  have  told  me  that 
now  it  was  a  pleasure  to  be  a  pastor.  .  .  . 
To-day  I  would  like  to  draw  your  attention 
to  the  fact  that  the  strong  desire  for  God's 
Word  and  constraining  brotherly  love  has 
been  the  cause  of  new  arrangements  and  the 
creation  of  a  number  of  organizations  in  our 
congregations  which  did  not  exist  before  the 
war.  Externally  regarded,  the  most  remark- 
able feature  is  a  new  type  of  service,  the  so- 
called  '  Kriegsgebetstunde,'  the  prayer  meet- 
ing on  behalf  of  the  country  and  the  soldiers. 
From  the  beginning  of  the  great  conflict  until 


Present  Condition  of  Christianity       76 

up  to  this  day  these  hours  for  prayer  and  de- 
votion have  been  greatly  in  demand  both  in 
our  cities  and  in  the  rural  districts.  The  num- 
ber of  regular  hours  of  worship  proved  too 
few,  and  consequently  these  prayer  meetings 
were  arranged.  The  people  usually  gather  on 
week-day  evenings  either  in  the  churches  or 
in  halls;  the  service  is  short  but  intensive, 
song  and  prayer  occupy  first  place ;  an  address 
is  not  always  given,  but,  if  so,  brief  and  to  the 
point."  Dr.  Deissman,  again  speaking  of 
some  of  these  services  which  he  attended,  says : 
"  I  must  confess  that  they  belong  to  the  most 
impressive  religious  services  I  ever  attended. 
The  small  church  building,  dimly  lit  by  can- 
dles, was  crowded  to  the  door  with  worship- 
pers, most  of  whom  could  not  be  recognized, 
but  the  great  common  feeling  of  humbling 
oneself  under  God's  will,  of  joyful  confidence 
and  patriotic  devotion,  united  all  of  us." 

Paul  Sabatier  has  the  same  story  to  tell  of 
France.  France  has  found  her  religious  self, 
her  real  soul,  in  this  war,  he  tells  us  in  a  letter 
to  the  English  papers.  Stephen  Graham  in  his 
book,  "  Russia  and  the  War,"  reports  the  same 
feeling  of  religious  fervour  as  having  swept 
over  Russia,  taking  there,  as  would  be  nat- 
ural, a  more  mystical  form.     In  England,  in 


76  The  Challenge 

the  great  training  camps,  the  workers  for  the 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  report  such  a  responsiveness  as 
they  had  never  found  among  young  men  be- 
fore. A  note  in  an  English  magazine,  calling  at- 
tention to  the  fact  that  Cambridge  has  lost 
more  than  half  of  its  students,  says  that  the 
whole  question  of  Christianity  and  the  present 
world  struggle  has  assumed  a  new  and  intense 
interest.  Mr.  G.  W.  Hoyland,  author  of  the 
note,  says :  "  About  a  month  ago  some  twenty 
men,  among  them  four  or  five  Dons,  met  to 
take  counsel  together  and  discuss  difficulties. 
This  group  has  developed  into  an  informal  and 
so  far  nameless  society,  touching  in  all  per- 
haps thirty  persons,  who  meet  together  for  an 
hour  every  week.  Quite  spontaneously  this 
hour  has  taken  the  form  of  a  prayer  meeting 
for  worship,  in  which  we  together  wait  upon 
God  and  seek  the  guidance  of  His  spirit. 
What  these  meetings  will  develop  into  next 
term  remains  to  be  seen,  but  already  many  of 
us  have  found  in  them  inspiration  and  clearer 
conviction,  and  we  believe  that  we  shall  be 
shown,  as  time  goes  on,  what  policy  we  must 
adopt  and  what  definite  work  we  must  do." 

It  would  not  surprise  us  to  see  arising  out 
of  this  war  a  great  revival  of  religion.  Men 
will  be  driven  back  upon  God  as  the  only  sure 


Present  Condition  of  Christianity        77 

and  unfailing  refuge.  Guns  and  powder  have 
brought  no  security  or  peace.  Diplomacy 
has  proved  a  miserable  failure.  Even  Hague 
Tribunals  and  international  agreements  fail 
when  beneath  them  there  is  not  a  chastened, 
Godlike  heart.  Millions  of  people  are  be- 
ginning to  feel  all  over  Europe  that  there  is  no 
sure,  unfailing  thing  but  God;  that  in  this 
world  are  vicissitudes,  demoniac  and  ungov- 
ernable forces,  wars  as  uncontrollable  as  vol- 
canoes, floods  and  earthquakes.  Only  the 
eternal  is  a  sure  refuge.  Men  will  shortly  be 
saying,  perhaps  as  never  before,  "  To  whom 
else  shall  we  go?  Thou  only  hast  the  words 
of  eternal  life,  of  lasting  peace." 


VI 


THE  TASK  OF  THE  TWENTIETH 
CENTURY 

SOCIETY  is  composed  of  several  units. 
First  there  is  the  individual,  then  the 
family,  then  the  city,  then  the  state, 
then  the  nation.  These  units  all  stand  over 
against  each  other  in  certain  relationships. 
Man  has  relationships  with  man,  family  with 
family,  city  with  city,  state  with  state,  nation 
with  nation.  The  relationships  between  man 
and  man,  home  and  home,  city  and  city,  state 
and  state  have  been  lifted  up  on  to  a  plane  that 
is  fairly  Christian.  For  instance:  respectable, 
decent  men  do  not  steal  from  each  other,  do 
not  kill  each  other,  do  not  make  suspicion  to- 
ward each  other  the  basis  of  life,  do  not  settle 
their  disputes  with  fists  and  clubs,  guns  and 
swords.  This  relationship  has,  on  the  whole, 
been  fairly  well  Christianized.  It  has  at  last 
been  brought  to  that  point  where  he  who  falls 
short  of  it  is  no  longer  considered  either  a 
Christian  or  a  gentleman.    Indeed,  he  becomes 

a  criminal,  if  he  sinks  below  this  high  level. 
78 


Task  of  the  Twentieth  Century         79 

Millions  of  men  are  not  only  hot  killing  each 
other,  not  fighting  each  other,  not  stealing 
from  each  other,  but  are  forgiving  each  other, 
practising  charity  in  their  relationships  to  each 
other  and  moving  toward  that  goal  set  them 
in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount.  Even  all  decent 
individuals,  to  say  nothing  of  gentlemen  and 
Christians,  settle  such  disputes  as  have  to  be 
adjudicated  in  courts  of  law  or  before  con- 
ciliation groups.  All  this  is  true  of  families, 
except  in  some  regions  where  family  feuds 
still  persist  and  these  are  fast  disappearing. 
Families  live  toward  each  other  in  Christian 
spirit.  States  have  reached  the  same  high 
level.  A  fight  between  New  York  and  Con- 
necticut is  so  unthinkable  that  to  mention  it  is 
ludicrous. 

But  while  the  relationships  between  man 
and  man,  family  and  family,  state  and  state 
are  approximating  a  Christian  basis,  those  be- 
tween nation  and  nation  are  still  pagan, 
heathen — in  many  cases  barbarous.  Nations 
live  in  suspicion,  jealousy  and  distrust  of  each 
other,  almost  without  exception.  Nations 
steal  from  each  other,  and  are  not  condemned. 
Rather,  do  we  not  praise  those  nations  as 
great  nations,  "  empire  builders,"  who  can 
steal  the  most?    A  big  nation  can  go  out  and 


80  The  Challenge 

destroy,  take  the  life  of  a  little  nation,  and 
hardly  any  one  will  protest.  (To  be  sure, 
we  have  advanced  in  this  regard,  as  witness 
the  protest  over  Germany's  destroying  Bel- 
gium. But  it  is  doubtful  if  there  would  have 
been  much  protest  over  Germany's  destroy- 
ing Belgium,  had  she  not  been  party  to  a 
treaty  guaranteeing  Belgium's  neutrality.) 
Nations  still  settle  their  disputes  on  brute 
levels,  with  slaughter,  cruelties,  guns,  powder, 
shrapnel,  poisonous  gases,  bombs,  torpedoes, 
drownings,  with  every  conceivable  invention 
of  devilish  imaginations,  and  it  is  all  consid- 
ered civilized  and  proper.  Many  even  plead 
that  it  is  admirable,  excellent  and  Christian. 
We  ask  God's  blessing  on  it,  praise  it  in  song 
and  verse,  build  statues  to  the  men  who  can 
kill  the  most. 

So  there  we  have  it — one  set  of  command- 
ments for  men,  families  and  states,  another 
for  nations.  "  Thou  shalt  not  steal,"  for  men ; 
"  Thou  shalt  steal  all  thou  canst  lay  thy  hands 
upon,"  for  nations.  "  Thou  shalt  not  kill," 
for  men ;  "  Thou  shalt  kill  and  destroy  any- 
body and  everything  within  thy  reach,"  for 
nations.  "Thou  shalt  not  covet,"  for  men; 
"  Thou  shalt  covet  everything,"  for  nations. 
"  Thou  shalt  not  bear  false  witness,"  for  in- 


Task  of  the  Twentieth  Century         81 

dividuals ;  "  Thou  shalt  lie  about  other  coun- 
tries all  thou  canst  and  pervert  their  every 
word  and  action  into  enmity,"  for  nations. 
"  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbour  as  thyself," 
for  individuals ;  "  Thou  shalt  hate  thy  neigh- 
bour with  all  thy  heart,"  for  nations.  "  Thou 
shalt  take  thy  quarrel  to  the  brethren,"  for 
the  individual ;  "  Thou  shalt  take  thy  quarrel 
to  the  battlefield,"  for  nations.  "  Thou  shalt 
forgive  thine  enemy,"  for  the  individual; 
"  Thou  shalt  take  revenge  upon  thine  enemy," 
for  nations. 

This  is  the  double  standard  of  ethics  in  the 
kingdom  of  God.  This  is  where  we  are :  an 
individual  morality  on  one  side,  a  totally  op- 
posing group  morality  on  the  other.  Individ- 
uals living  as  Christians  and  gentlemen;  na- 
tions living  as  heathen  and  pagans. 

The  great  task  confronting  the  twentieth 
century  is  to  Hft  up  the  relationship  between 
nations  to  that  high  Christian  level  now  per- 
taining between  individuals.  Thus  will  the 
great  consummation  of  the  divine  plan  of 
creation  be  realized,  and  peace  come  between 
nations  as  it  has  between  individuals  and 
states.  And  it  will  come  in  the  same  way. 
Once  individuals  stole  from  each  other,  killed 
each  other  promiscuously  and  settled  all  their 


82  The  Challenge 

disputes  by  force.  Once  a  state  of  feud  ex- 
isted between  families  which  led  to  continual 
bloodshed.  (Read  Scott's  novels  and  see  how 
it  was  in  Scotland  in  the  old  days.)  But  in- 
dividuals under  the  influence  of  the  Gospel, 
the  growth  of  law  and  the  development  of  the 
social  conscience  gradually  passed  through 
such  stages  as  trial  by  battle  and  the  duel,  un- 
til they  established  courts,  and  finally  settled 
all  their  disputes  by  judicial  methods  and  lived 
toward  each  other  in  mutual  helpfulness  and 
peace.  The  states  once  settled  their  disputes 
by  war;  now  they  take  them  to  the  Supreme 
Court.  Now  is  the  time — as  soon  as  this  great 
war  is  over — (but  let  us  be  thinking  of  it 
now)  for  America  and  the  American  Church 
to  demand  that  at  last  the  nations  leave  their 
pagan  past  and  do  what  men  and  states  have 
done — establish  a  World  Court,  bind  them- 
selves by  a  League  or  by  Treaties  to  take 
their  disputes  to  this  Court,  and  use  methods 
of  conciliation  where  disputes  arise  that  are 
not  justiciable. 

We  say  America  should  lead  in  this.  Europe 
is  too  stricken  to  lead  in  anything  for  many 
years.  Each  state  must  bend  its  energies  to 
self -restoration.  Suspicions  and  hatreds  will 
exist  that  will  make  one  nation  mistrust  any 


Task  of  the  Twentieth  Century         83 

Utterance  of  another.  But  we  are  whole,  and 
we  can  speak  without  being  mistrusted  by  any 
nation  as  having  some  ulterior  end  in  Europe. 
All  of  us  who  have  any  heart  and  who  want 
to  make  this  holocaust  impossible  again  ought 
to  be  studying  and  thinking  over  these  things. 
Study  the  program  of  The  League  to  Enforce 
Peace,  of  which  Mr.  Taft  is  the  head;  study 
the  program  which  The  World  Court  League 
is  putting  forth ;  study  the  various  suggestions 
that  are  coming  from  Holland  and  other  neutral 
states ;  study  the  propositions  for  Pan- Ameri- 
canism that  are  filling  the  press ;  study  all  these 
plans  carefully,  so  that  you  may  be  ready  at  the 
close  of  the  war  to  support  any  great  proposi- 
tion this  Government  might  make  to  Europe, 
or  to  put  your  influence  behind  the  Third 
Hague  Conference,  where  there  is  no  doubt 
that  some  of  these  proposals  will  be  considered 
— taken  up  where  they  were  left  at  the  Second 
Hague  Conference.  The  world  of  Europe  will 
never  be  content  to  go  back  to  the  old  order. 
Let  us,  as  a  people,  be  ready  to  help  it  into  the 
new. 

And,  as  for  the  Church,  what  a  task,  what 
an  opportunity!  Let  it  begin  to  proclaim,  in 
voice  that  shall  be  irresistible,  that  there  can 
be  but  one  morality  in  the  Kingdom  of  God — ; 


84  The  Challenge 

that  killing  is  just  as  much  murder  when  done 
by  a  nation  as  when  done  by  a  man ;  that  steal- 
ing does  not  become  anything  better  than  steal- 
ing when  a  nation  does  it ;  that  nations  become 
brutes  when  they  fight  with  guns  and  gases, 
just  as  much  as  a  man  does  when  he  fights  with 
knives  and  pistols;  that  revenge  is  wrongful, 
hatred  despicable,  suspicions  mean,  whether 
found  in  a  man  or  a  nation ;  that  the  gospel  of 
good-will,  co-operation,  brotherhood  was 
meant  by  Jesus  to  apply  to  nations  as  well  as 
men,  and  that  Jesus'  gospel,  that  a  truly  great 
man  was  not  thinking  of  rights  but  duties,  was 
equally  the  test  of  a  great  nation. 


VII 
A  NATION'S  TRUE  GREATNESS 

THE  chief  reason  this  terrible  war  is 
sweeping  the  world  is  this :  When  we 
act  as  individuals  toward  other  individ- 
uals we  act  as  Christians,  when  we  act  as  gov- 
ernments toward  other  governments  we  act 
as  pagans.  Individuals  are  largely  living  by 
Christian  principles,  governments  by  pagan 
principles.  What  we  call  vices  and  crimes  in 
men  we  praise  as  virtues  and  noble  deeds  in 
nations.  We  hang  men  for  committing  the 
deeds  for  which  we  crown  nations.  We  con- 
demn in  all  decent  men  conduct  which  we  exalt 
in  nations.  When  we  ask :  What  makes  a  man 
great  ?  we  mention  those  qualities  which  as  na- 
tions we  despise,  throw  aside  and  revile. 
When  we  ask :  What  makes  a  nation  great  ? 
we  name  the  very  things  that  make  men  small, 
vile  and  cast-offs  from  all  respectable  society. 
It  is  this  double  standard  of  ethics,  one  for 
men,  one  for  nations,  that  is  largely  responsi- 
ble for  the  persistence  of  war.  It  will  cease 
85 


86  The  Challenge 

between  nations  when  we  demand  of  them  the 
same  high  rules  of  conduct  that  we  demand 
of  gentlemen.  Fights  between  individuals 
stopped  when  men  became  gentlemen.  To-day 
men  are  gentlemen  and  nations  are  rowdies. 

We  say  that  it  is  wrong  for  men  to  steal 
from  each  other,  but  we  praise  the  nation  that 
can  steal  the  most.  Most  of  the  colonies  of 
nations  were  deliberately  stolen,  and  no  one 
ever  thought  of  condemning  the  nations  doing 
the  stealing  until  very  recent  years.  Even  now 
there  are  thousands  of  Christians  who  will 
justify  a  nation  going  to  war  for  expansion 
who  would  shoot  a  man  who  began  killing  his 
neighbours  on  that  plea.  Stealing  is  a  crime 
for  men,  a  virtue  in  nations. 

We  say  that  it  is  wrong  for  a  man  to  kill  his 
neighbour,  we  say  it  is  wrong  to  do  so  even  in 
revenge,  or  to  get  certain  rights  even  when 
greatly  provoked.  We  make  it  the  most  hein- 
ous crime.  In  many  places  we  take  the  life  of 
a  man  who  kills  another  man.  But,  even  if 
we  do  not  praise  the  nation  which  destroys 
another,  as  once  we  did  praise,  yet  millions  of 
good  Christian  people  condone  it  and  uphold 
by  their  lives  laid  down  the  nation  which  does 
it.  We  have  the  spectacle  in  Europe  to-day  of 
millions  of  Christian  people  supporting  cer- 


A  Nation's  True  Greatness  87 

tain  nations  in  a  deliberate  act  of  destruction 
for  which  they  would  have  imprisoned  any  in- 
dividual for  life.  Wrong  for  men  to  kill  each 
other;  perfectly  right  for  nations  to  destroy 
each  other ! 

We  say  that  it  is  disgusting  and  disgraceful 
for  men  to  settle  their  disputes  with  fists, 
knives,  daggers,  razors,  pistols.  Only  rowdies, 
toughs  and  savages  do  it.  In  most  civilized 
lands  even  the  duel  is  under  condemnation. 
But  almost  all  Christians  in  the  world  believe 
that  this  is  just  the  way  nations  ought  to  set- 
tle their  disputes,  and  see  nothing  wrong  in 
nations  flying  at  each  other's  throats  on  the 
slightest  provocation.  When  a  difference 
arises  between  two  men,  we  all  think  of  con- 
ciliation, law  and  courts;  when  a  difference 
arises  between  two  nations,  the  first  thought 
of  these  same  Christians  is  war.  When  a  man 
makes  certain  claims  against  his  neighbour 
and  his  neighbour  makes  counter  claims,  we 
think  of  arbitration ;  when  two  nations  cannot 
agree  upon  a  question,  our  first  thought  is  that 
they  should  seek  justice  through  trying  to  kill 
each  other. 

We  praise  the  man  who  forgives.  The 
books  on  which  we  base  our  religion  have  for- 
giveness running  through  them  like  a  thread 


88  The 'Challenge 

of  gold.  He  whom  we  call  Master  practised 
it,  even  to  death.  But  whoever  conceived  that 
a  nation  might  forbear  and  forgive?  We 
smile  at  the  thought.  We  would  be  indignant 
at  the  act.  Many  of  us  were  indignant  be- 
cause Mr.  Wilson  and  Mr.  Bryan  even  sug- 
gested forbearance  and  investigation  when 
the  Mexican  trouble  began.  Our  only  cry 
was :  "  Let  us  go  into  Mexico.  Let  us  re- 
venge ourselves  for  the  lives  of  American 
citizens.  Our  honour  has  been  insulted." 
This  cry  was  in  religious  newspapers,  in 
Christian  pulpits,  to  say  nothing  of  the  mouths 
of  mobs  and  demagogues.  But  we  can  have 
no  lasting  peace  until  we  can  get  nations 
which  will  act  like  Christian  gentlemen  when 
affronted.  Perhaps  the  greatest  lesson  of 
modern  history  has  just  been  taught  us  in  this 
regard,  when  the  President  of  the  United 
States  by  acting  toward  Germany  with  reason, 
good-will  and  forbearance  won  the  greatest 
victory  of  the  present  war.  It  is  a  much 
greater  victory  to  convert  a  man  than  to  kill 
him. 

We  are  forever  singing  hymns  about  the 
meek  and  lowly,  and  these  are  the  qualities 
which  the  Church  has  demanded  in  its  saints. 
But  we  call  the  same  qualities  in  a  nation  weak 


A  Nation's  True  Greatness  89 

and  pusillanimous.  We  call  that  nation  great 
which  is  mighty,  overwhelming,  imperial,  ir- 
resistible in  its  brute  strength,  which  by  force 
of  arms  can  conquer,  subjugate,  force  other 
peoples  to  serve  it. 

We  call  that  man  greatest  who  serves  his 
fellow  men,  and  those  who  are  greatest  of 
all  in  our  Christianity  are  those  who  have 
practically  forgotten  self  in  the  service  of  the 
world.  But  whoever  heard  of  a  nation  exist- 
ing first  of  all  for  the  service  of  the  world? 
The  thing  we  call  meanest  in  men,  selfishness, 
we  exalt  in  nations.  The  highest  duties  of  a 
really  great  man  are  toward  others;  the  high- 
est duties  of  a  nation,  toward  itself.  From 
many  high  Christian  sources  we  are  hearing 
this :  "  The  first  duty  of  a  nation  is  the  pro- 
tection of  its  citizens " ;  "  the  nation  must 
brook  no  insult";  "the  nation  must  uphold 
its  honour."  What  would  you  think  of  a  man 
who  thought  his  chief  duty  in  life  was  self- 
protection  or  avenging  his  honour?  Would 
we  call  him  great?  And  yet  notice,  when 
President  Wilson,  rising  above  this  low  and 
universal  conception  of  national  greatness, 
and  carrying  it  up  into  that  level  where  we 
judge  great  men,  insisted  that  the  first  duty  of 
the  United  States  was  not  retaliation,  not  re- 


90  The  Challenge 

venge,  not  protecting  her  honour,  not  even 
seeking  reparation,  but  was  in  the  securing  of 
safety  on  the  seas  for  all  innocent  people,  and 
the  rescuing  of  Germany  from  her  mad 
course,  how  many  Christian  men  in  high 
places  excoriated  him  and  spoke  with  sneers 
and  jeers.  When  men  put  self  first,  they 
fought  day  and  night.  When  they  learned  to 
put  service  first,  they  had  peace.  The  same 
law  will  hold  with  nations.  There  can  be  but 
one  greatness,  whether  it  be  of  men,  gods, 
angels  or  nations. 

Perhaps  nowhere  is  this  contrast  more 
widely  outstanding  than  is  the  doctrine  of 
rights.  No  Christian  lives  by  a  doctrine  of 
rights.  He  lives  by  a  doctrine  of  duties.  He 
is  not  worried  over  getting  his  rights.  He 
does  not  go  about  clamouring  for  them,  any 
more  than  did  his  Master.  Even  if  he  did  be- 
lieve he  had  certain  rights  which  ought  to  be 
maintained  he  will  not,  if  he  is  a  gentleman, 
insist  on  obtaining  these  rights  at  the  expense, 
hurt  or  death  of  others.  The  State  considers 
him  a  criminal  if  he  attempts  it  and  condemns 
him. 

The  question  then  immediately  arises :  Has 
the  time  not  come  when  nations  should  be 
compelled  to  respect  these  same  laws?     Has 


A  Nation's  True  Greatness  91 

one  nation  a  right  to  plunge  all  Europe  into 
hell,  or  even  to  make  all  the  other  peaceful 
nations  suffer — for  all  nations  suffer  vastly 
from  the  war  of  even  two — simply  to  secure 
its  own  rights,  even  where  it  is  recognized  by 
all  that  the  rights  have  been  violated?  Has 
any  nation  the  right  to  go  to  war  to-day  with- 
out first  consulting  all  the  other  nations  and 
exhausting  every  existing  means  of  securing 
justice  when  such  a  course  invariably  means 
the  ruin  of  thousands  of  disinterested  and  in- 
nocent people,  and  may  mean  the  drawing  of 
many  other  nations  into  the  war?  What  Mr. 
Taft  said  at  the  dedication  of  the  Pan-Ameri- 
can Peace  Palace  in  Washington  must  be  ap- 
plied to  all  nations.  He  said  that  no  two  na- 
tions on  the  American  Continent  had  any  right 
to  go  to  war  and  disturb  all  the  others,  and 
that  he  hoped  the  time  would  soon  come  when 
the  nineteen  nations  would  say  to  any  other 
two  considering  war,  "  You  must  stop."  It 
is  time  this  came  in  all  the  world. 

Any  nation  which  to-day,  with  the  present 
oneness  of  the  world,  declares  war  against 
another  country,  thereby  declares  war  against 
every  other  country,  and  the  time  has  come  to 
recognize  this  fact.  No  nation  can  go  to  war 
to-day  without  going  to  war  against  all  hu- 


92  The  Challenge 

manity.  Has  not  the  time  come  to  say  to  na- 
tions, just  as  we  say  to  individuals :  "  If  the 
securing  of  justice,  the  obtaining  of  your 
rights,  the  upholding  of  your  honour,  prom- 
ises in  any  way  to  disturb  the  peace  of  the 
rest  of  the  world  and  make  all  the  innocent 
nations  suffer,  you  must  refrain  from  individ- 
ual action  and  do  as  individuals  do:  try  your 
case  before  some  competent  judicial  body  by 
orderly  processes  of  law."  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
this  is  the  surest  way  to  get  justice  in  the  end. 
For  instance,  what  is  Austria  getting  now? 
What  might  she  not  have  had  if  she  had  taken 
her  dispute  with  Serbia  to  The  Hague,  as 
Serbia  was  willing  to  do  ? 


VIII 

"CHOOSE  THIS   DAY  WHOM   THOU 
WILT  SERVE" 

TO  every  nation  there  come  crises  when 
a  choice  has  immediately  to  be  made  of 
a  course  of  action,  a  plan  of  life,  a 
philosophy  of  conduct,  on  which  hangs  the 
whole  future,  and  v/hich  determines  the  char- 
acter of  the  nation  for  years,  if  not  forever. 
Such  a  crisis  was  that  when  the  nation  had  to 
choose  between  whether  it  should  be  "  all 
free  "  or  "  half  free  and  half  slave."  It  chose 
to  be  "  all  free,"  and  the  united,  free,  pros- 
perous country  was  determined  by  that  choice. 
We  should  have  been  an  absolutely  different 
sort  of  nation  had  we  made  the  other  choice. 
But  the  point  is  that  a  crisis  came  and  we 
had  to  meet  it  immediately.  "  This  day  choose 
whom  thou  wilt  serve."  How  thankful  every 
American  is  that  the  nation  chose  the  course 
which  it  did. 

This  nation  is  now  very  rapidly  being  forced 
into  another  crisis  where  another  great  choice 
93 


94  The  Challenge 

has  got  to  be  made,  and  made  immediately. 
The  issue  is  being  so  emphatically  pushed 
that  to  us  again  come  the  words  of  the  old 
prophet,  "  Choose  you  this  day  whom  ye  will 
serve."  And  we  are  not  sure  but  that  the 
choice  is  as  momentous  as  that  made  sixty 
years  ago.  We  have  got  to  choose,  and  that 
at  once,  whether  we  shall  be  a  nation  devoted 
to  the  arts  of  peace,  cultivating  industry  and 
education,  developing  our  great  resources  of 
both  men  and  materials,  and  relying  largely 
upon  our  character  and  good-will  toward  all 
people  as  a  means  of  defence,  or  whether  we 
shall  follow  in  the  paths  of  the  toppling 
European  nations  and  become  imperialistic, 
base  our  civilization  on  the  sword  and  trust 
in  great  navies  and  armies  for  national  de- 
fence. 

That  choice  is  being  very  rapidly  forced 
upon  us,  and  all  men  to  whom  the  future  of 
their  country  is  dear  should  be  seriously  con- 
sidering on  which  side  they  are  going  to  throw 
their  vote.  The  crisis  is  being  forced  by  four 
classes  of  people.  First  and  chiefly,  big  men 
interested  in  military  matters,  men  who  are 
immersed  in  militarism  and  who  have  no  faith 
in  any  other  basis  of  civilization  than  force 
or  any  other  kind  of  defence  than  guns.    The 


"  Choose  .    .    .  Whom  Thou  Wilt  Serve  "      95 

second  group  is  composed  of  politicians  who 
are  seizing  this  opportunity  to  try  and  dis- 
credit President  Wilson,  who  has  already  in 
his  superb  message  called  upon  the  nation  to 
choose  the  American  ideal  rather  than  the 
European.  The  third  group  is  composed  of 
those  who  profit  by  war  and  preparation  for 
war.  How  active  this  particular  group  has 
been  in  America  we  do  not  know.  It  is  well 
known  that  they  had  much  to  do  with  bring- 
ing this  present  awful  war  upon  Europe.  It 
is  hard  to  believe  that  there  are  men  in  the 
world  who  would  plunge  the  nations  into  hell 
to  make  money ;  but,  as  Dr.  David  Starr  Jor- 
dan and  others  have  shown,  there  is  incon- 
trovertible evidence  that  this  is  so.  There  is 
undoubtedly  a  group  in  America  interested  in 
securing  "  adequate "  preparation  for  war. 
The  fourth  group  is  composed  of  those  admir- 
able but  timid  people  who  have  been  fright- 
ened by  this  European  war,  and  who  have  not 
the  logical  ability  to  see  that  it  is  just  what 
they  are  urging  that  caused  the  war  in  Europe. 
Nothing  truer  has  been  voiced  in  a  long  time 
than  some  words  of  Mr.  Bryan's,  uttered  at 
Richmond,  where,  referring  to  the  fact  that 
it  was  the  preparedness  for  war  that  helped 
Europe  into  war,  he  said,  "  Preparedness  will 


96  The  Challenge 

almost  with  absolute  certainty  lead  us  into 
war."  But  many  good  people  forget  this  in 
their  fear  that  Japan  or  Germany,  if  she  is 
victorious,  will  invade  America.  Of  these 
good  people,  in  their  hysterical  state,  we  can 
only  say  what  Mr,  Carnegie  said  in  his  New 
Year's  message :  "  Meanwhile  let  us  pity  and 
forgive  those  who  urge  increased  armaments, 
for  '  they  know  not  what  they  do.'  " 

This  company  of  men,  composed  of  these 
four  groups,  have  begun  an  active  campaign 
to  force  this  nation  to  abandon  the  American 
ideal  and  to  adopt  the  European  ideal  of  big 
armies  and  navies.  They  are  organizing 
groups  throughout  the  country,  holding  mass 
meetings,  have  a  body  of  trained  agents  at 
Washington,  and  are  carrying  on  an  energetic 
agitation  in  the  press.  They  have  prominent 
men  going  up  and  down  the  country  who  are 
trying  to  frighten  the  nation  by  vivid  pictures 
of  invasion  by  imaginary  foes.  They  are  call- 
ing for  investigations  of  the  army  and  navy 
and  our  coast  defences.  Some  want  a  vast 
army  on  the  basis  of  Germany's.  Some  have 
even  urged  conscription.  Many  are  urging  the 
introduction  of  military  training  into  our 
schools  and  colleges.  All  are  interested  in  in- 
creasing armament  and   following  after  the 


«*  Choose  .    .   .  Whom  Thou  Wilt  Serve  "      97 

European  ideal  of  basing  national  defence 
upon  force;  all  are  urging  "preparedness  for 
war,"  forgetting  the  European  lesson  that 
"  you  always  get  what  you  prepare  for." 

Before  making  the  choice  every  American 
ought  to  consider  well  what  it  would  mean. 
Great  and  lasting  issues  are  bound  up  in  it.  In 
the  first  place,  it  means  that  two  other  nations 
are  going  to  have  their  suspicions  aroused 
against  us.  Let  no  one  be  deceived;  this  sud- 
den desire  of  arming  America  is  directed 
against  Japan  and  Germany.  Indeed,  those 
who  are  urging  it  openly  say  so.  At  the  first 
meeting  of  the  National  Security  League  in 
New  York  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  move- 
ment spent  ten  minutes  graphically  picturing 
what  might  happen  to  America  if  a  certain 
nation  won,  and  everybody  knew  he  meant 
Germany.  Already  this  movement  has  had 
effect  in  Germany,  and  she  has  not  liked  it. 
It  therefore  means  that  when  this  war  ceases 
two  nations,  Japan  and  Germany,  will  not  be 
as  friendly  to  our  mediation  as  they  might 
have  been.  Of  all  times  in  the  world  to  have 
begun  this  insane  agitation  for  armament,  this 
present  critical,  sensitive,  nervous  hour  was 
the  worst. 

It  means  plunging  other  nations  into  a  com- 


98  The  Challenge 

petitive  armament  immediately.  America  has 
so  far  kept  out  of  the  armament  race.  If 
now  the  Navy  League  and  the  militarists 
plunge  us  into  it,  it  means  that  Japan,  Brazil, 
Argentina,  Canada  and  the  rest  are  all  going 
to  build  just  as  hard  and  fast  as  do  we.  And 
why  should  they  not,  inasmuch  as  they  know 
it  is  directed  against  them? 

A  part  of  the  program  of  this  ardent  group 
of  militarists  on  which  great  stress  is  laid  is 
the  introduction  into  our  public  schools  and 
colleges  of  military  training  and  instruction  in 
shooting.  Do  the  parents  realize  what  that 
means?  If  they  do  not,  let  them  go  to  the 
psychologists.  It  means  that  all  our  boys  are 
to  grow  up  with  their  imaginations  turned 
toward  war.  It  means  that  they  are  to  grow 
up  in  the  atmosphere  of  the  camp,  and  learn 
martial  music,  martial  terms  and  martial  prin- 
ciples. It  means  that  guns  are  going  to  hold 
first  place  in  their  thoughts  as  a  means  of  set- 
tling international  disputes,  instead  of  justice 
and  arbitration.  It  means  that  they  are  going 
to  grow  up  with  the  constant  thought  before 
them  that  men  of  other  lands  are  not  their 
brothers,  but  natural  enemies.  For  when  boys 
are  trained  to  shoot,  you  have  got  to  train 
them  to  shoot  something.    As  a  matter  of  fact. 


"  Choose  .   .   .  Whom  Thou  Wilt  Serve  "      99 

in  military  training  human  forms  are  used  as 
targets.  Professor  Vernon  Lee  Kellogg,  of 
Leland  Stanford  University,  says  in  "  Beyond 
War  "  that  he  found  the  soldiers  among  the 
California  woods  shooting  at  targets  made  in 
the  form  of  men  and  remarkably  resembling 
Japanese.  That  is  what  military  drill  is  going 
to  mean.  It  is  going  to  change  the  whole 
character,  the  whole  idealism  of  the  next  gen- 
eration. It  is  going  to  give  us  a  new  type 
of  American — the  military,  Prussian  type, 
instead  of  the  industrial,  cosmopolitan,  demo- 
cratic type. 

Again,  let  us  never  forget  that  militarism  is 
the  eternal  foe  of  democracy.  Every  increase 
of  army  or  navy  is  a  direct  blow  in  the  face  of 
democracy.  Democracy  is  the  diffusion  of 
power  among  the  people.  Every  increase  in 
armament  centralizes  that  power  in  the  hands 
of  the  government;  in  most  countries  in  the 
hand  of  a  few  officers  of  the  government. 
Many  who  are  urging  vast  navies  and  big 
armies  on  the  country  know  this,  and  it  is  their 
fear  of  democracy  more  than  their  fear  of  out- 
side enemies  that  actuates  their  frenzied  ap- 
peal. It  is  time  for  the  United  States  to  take 
warning.  Every  battleship,  every  soldier, 
means  so  much  more  autocracy,  so  much  less 


100  The  Challenge 

democracy.  Militarism  and  democracy  can- 
not exist  together.  Remember  how  helpless 
the  German  people  were  in  the  Zabern  incident 
three  years  ago.  We  happen  to  have  a  Presi- 
dent at  Washington  who  believes  in  diffusion 
of  power.  We  can  conceive  of  a  man  being 
President  centralizing  the  national  power  in 
himself.  If  he  has  a  great  army  and  navy 
what  can  the  people  do  or  say?  Every  sol- 
dier means  an  advance  toward  that. 

Finally,  remember  that  in  the  making  of 
this  choice  America  settles  for  good,  or  for 
long  time  at  least,  whether  she  will  pursue 
the  new  way  in  which  she  has  been  walking,  or 
shall  choose  to  follow  in  the  footsteps  of  the 
old  world  and  become  as  Germany  and  Russia 
and  the  rest.  For  here  again  we  should  not 
be  misled.  Most  of  these  men  who  are  urging 
adequate  armament  mean  armament  like 
Europe's.  Also,  the  thing  grows.  A  begin- 
ning means  a  tendency.  A  tendency  soon 
swells  into  a  fulfilment.  We  have  been  free 
from  the  whole  accursed  business  over  here. 
We  have  put  our  trust  in  our  justice  to  all 
people,  our  good-will,  our  desire  to  be  friendly 
and  steal  no  one's  country  or  possessions. 
Our  defence  has  been  our  character,  and  our 
armament  the  friendly  treaties  of  arbitration 


"  Choose  .    .   .  Whom  Thou  Wilt  Serve  "    101 

with  all  people.  Our  energies  and  ambitions 
have  gone  into  industry,  education,  social  bet- 
terment, agricultural  development,  the  making 
free  and  happy  a  great  people,  building  up  a 
brotherhood,  in  kindliness,  out  of  all  the  races 
and  nations  in  our  midst.  This  is  not  only  our 
defence;  it  is  our  uniqueness.  It  is  what 
makes  us  truly  great  in  the  eyes  of  all  the 
nations.  The  choice  which  the  Navy  League, 
the  National  Security  League,  the  militarists, 
the  people  who  are  crying  for  "  adequate  "  and 
increased  armament  are  forcing  upon  us  is 
between  this  new  American  ideal  and  the 
ideals  and  ways  of  Europe.  And  let  us  have 
an  eye  to  what  thing  the  ways  of  Europe  have 
brought  her,  when  we  make  our  choice. 


IX 

THE  PRESENT  ISSUE 

THE  world  is  witnessing  to-day,  as  never 
before  in  its  history,  a  conflict  between 
two  great  principles — that  of  individ- 
ualism on  the  one  hand,  and  that  of  human 
interdependence  on  the  other.  It  is  an  old 
battle,  for  it  was  the  battle  between  the  Greek 
ideal  and  the  Christian,  as  long  ago  as  when 
Paul  visited  Corinth.  But  it  has  never  be- 
come the  great  issue  that  it  has  in  our  day. 
Indeed,  it  is  the  one  fundamental  issue.  For 
the  great  war  on  in  the  world  is  between  these 
two  principles,  not  between  Germany  and  the 
Allies.  The  war  in  Europe  has  really  grown 
out  of  the  conflict  of  these  principles,  as  we 
shall  see  later.  All  our  literature  is  centring 
about  it.  Our  novels  are  but  pleas  for  one  or 
the  other  principle.  One  novel  is  written  to 
preach  that  a  man  has  a  right  to  live  his  own 
life  regardless  of  the  world.  The  market  is 
full  of  these  books.  Another  novel  preaches 
that  a  man  should  be  willing  to  renounce  every- 

102 


The  Present  Issue  103 

thing  for  the  common  good.  Our  dramas  all 
reflect  the  same  conflict.  Most  of  them  preach 
that  individual  happiness  is  the  norm  of  right 
or  wrong.  A  man  has  the  right  to  the  woman 
he  loves,  no  matter  how  many  homes  or  souls 
he  wrecks.  On  the  other  hand,  there  is  a 
group  of  powerful  dramas  preaching  the  social 
gospel,  the  gospel  that  man  is  bound  up  in  an 
organic  social  body,  and  cannot  do  either 
good  or  evil  without  affecting  the  whole 
organism. 

All  our  religious  discussion  is  concerned 
with  this  question.  Not  on  theories  of  the 
atonement  are  men  writing,  but  upon  ethical 
theories.  Nietzsche  writes  that  a  man  lives 
for  himself  alone,  and  that  is  right  for  him 
which  he  can  get.  He  has  no  obligations  to 
society,  and  society  has  none  to  him,  except  as 
he  can  wrest  them  from  it.  A  really  great 
book  is  Professor  Royce's  recently  pub- 
lished "  Problem  of  Christianity,"  It  goes 
clear  over  to  the  very  opposite  principle  from 
Nietzsche — indeed,  goes  as  far  over  as  St.  Paul 
went — and  in  masterly  writing  claims  that 
there  is  no  real  life  by  oneself,  not  even  any 
salvation.  Self-fulfilment  comes  only  through 
loyalty  to  the  community;  salvation  through 
finding  one's  place  in  the  group.     It  is  the 


104.  The  Challenge 

eternal  theme  in  all  our  economic  and  indus- 
trial problems  to-day — has  a  man  got  the  right 
to  do  what  he  pleases  with  his  own,  regardless 
of  the  rest  of  the  world?  Just  at  present  the 
issue  has  been  taken  up  on  to  the  plane  of  na- 
tional relationships,  and  the  thinkers  of  the 
world  are,  as  in  the  case  of  men's  relationships, 
divided.  One  group  says  the  nation  lives  unto 
itself  alone  and  is  in  no  wise  bound  to  take 
other  nations  into  consideration  in  seeking  its 
ends,  and  up  to  this  present  time  has  openly 
urged  that  the  nation  should  seek  these  ends 
by  force.  Others  are  urging  that  each  nation 
must  act  as  a  member  of  a  world  family,  and 
act  in  consideration  of  the  common  welfare, 
even  as  gentlemen  do  in  individual  relation- 
ships. 

The  whole  contention  has  been  assuming 
the  form  recently  of  a  discussion  of  rights  and 
duties.  It  comes  back  to  the  same  thing. 
Shall  one  strive  for  his  own  rights,  or  for  the 
rights  of  others?  Shall  one  make  the  doctrine 
of  rights  so  supreme  that  he  shall  insist  on 
them,  no  matter  what  harm  it  brings  to  others 
in  securing  them,  or  shall  he  waive  his  own 
rights,  satisfaction,  revenge,  reparation  for 
honour  insulted,  for  the  sake  of  the  common 
good? 


The  Present  Issue  105 

Here  is  the  great  contention  of  to-day,  and 
many  are  feeling  that  it  is  according  as  one 
views  this  question  that  his  right  to  be  called 
a  Christian  is  determined.  Not  long  ago  a 
well-known  religious  teacher  was  asked, 
"  What  makes  a  man  a  Christian  ?  "  He  re- 
sponded, "  The  fact  of  whether  he  stood  with 
Jesus  Christ  for  the  saving  of  the  world  as 
over  against  those  who  stood  for  saving  their 
own  lives."  However  this  may  be,  there  can 
be  no  doubt  as  to  the  position  of  the  two 
founders  of  Christianity,  Jesus  and  Paul.  The 
Gospels  and  the  Epistles  are  all  woven  around 
this  one  thought,  as  around  a  golden  cord. 
The  fundamental  law  of  nature  on  which  the 
Gospel  is  built  up  is  that  no  man  liveth  to  him- 
self alone. 

Taking  this  as  a  basis,  both  Jesus  and  Paul 
rear  the  great  structure  whose  one  central  prin- 
ciple is  the  free,  spontaneous,  eager  acknowl- 
edgment that  one  belongs  to  a  society  and  that 
the  life  both  of  the  society  and  of  himself 
rests  on  his  faithfulness  to  this  principle. 
There  are  men  who  teach  that  the  individual 
has  a  right  to  his  own  life  regardless  of  others, 
but  there  is  no  vestige  of  such  teaching  in  the 
New  Testament,  neither  can  one  find  it  in  the 
great  teachers  of  the  ages.     For  they,  with 


106  The  Challenge 

their  Master,  have  seen,  as  any  one  must  see 
who  stops  and  thinks,  that  there  can  be  no  so- 
ciety built  up  on  that  principle,  no  civilization. 
We  are  just  witnessing  great  civilizations  tum- 
bling to  pieces  because  nations  have  been  living 
by  that  philosophy.  If  the  war  stops  and  na- 
tions go  back  to  this  same  anti-Christian  basis, 
it  will  all  come  again.  It  must  come.  It  comes 
among  individuals  whenever  the  law  of  strict 
individualism  prevails.  Every  colony  that  has 
ever  been  founded  by  dreamers,  where  every 
one  did  what  he  pleased,  has  gone  to  pieces. 
Our  modern  cities  are  wholesome  or  evil  just 
to  the  extent  that  the  Christian  principle  of  the 
community  prevails,  or  the  old  pagan  ideal  of 
individualism.  If  every  one  should  begin  to- 
morrow to  live  as  he  pleased,  considering  the 
present  tendencies  in  human  nature  we  should 
have  a  hell  in  every  town  within  a  month. 
Some  people  scorn  conventions,  but  conven- 
tions are  not  arbitrary  things.  They  are 
fences  built  up  to  keep  the  savages  from  de- 
stroying the  city.  One  man  says  he  will  not 
be  bound  by  marriage,  but,  being  an  individual, 
will  live  as  he  chooses.  He  may  not  wreck 
the  city,  because  the  fences  are  too  strong  for 
one  man  to  break.  But  suppose  every  man  in 
New  York  began  to  live  on  that  basis,  where 


The  Present  Issue  107 

would  we  be  in  a  year?  It  is  of  that  we  have 
to  think. 

It  is  a  striking  fact  that  one  of  the  great- 
est teachers  of  modern  times  built  up  his  whole 
ethical  system  on  just  this  principle.  We  re- 
fer to  Emanuel  Kant.  Kant  said  that  the  con- 
duct of  the  individual  must  be  regulated  by 
its  contribution  to  the  welfare  of  society. 
Whatever  contributed  to  the  preservation  and 
upbuilding  of  the  community  was  good;  what- 
ever contributed  to  its  misery  and  downfall 
was  evil.  He  called  his  principle  the  Categor- 
ical Imperative.  It  may  be  expressed  as  fol- 
lows :  So  live  that  the  principle  of  your  life 
may  be  worthy  of  being  made  a  universal  law. 
In  other  words,  every  man  ought  to  live  so  as 
to  make  his  example  fit  to  follow.  Let  each 
one  of  us  ask:  What  kind  of  a  world  would 
this  be  if  all  men  lived  as  I  live?  Dr.  Amory 
H.  Bradford,  of  sainted  memory,  once  gave 
this  principle  some  direct  and  particular  appli- 
cations. The  result  was  so  suggestive  and 
striking  that  we  cannot  forbear  quoting  the 
questions  here  as  he  gave  them : 

"  Suppose  all  the  citizens  of  this  community 
were  to  take  the  same  amount  of  interest  in  its 
affairs,  and  give  to  them  the  same  amount  of 


108  The  Challenge 

time  and  effort  that  we  do,  and  no  more,  what 
kind  of  a  community  would  this  be?  " 

"  Suppose  that  all  men  were  to  do  as  much 
to  help  the  deserving  poor  to  get  work  as  we 
do,  and  no  more,  how  many  of  them  would 
have  work?  " 

"  Suppose  that  all  our  people  should  give 
as  much  of  their  property,  in  proportion  to 
their  ability,  to  missions  and  to  moral  reform 
as  we  give,  what  would  be  the  condition  of  the 
world?" 

"  Suppose  that  all  who  attend  church,  who 
are  able  to  be  prompt,  should  be  as  prompt 
in  attendance  as  we  are,  and  no  more,  what 
time  would  our  church  services  begin?" 

"  Suppose  that  all  who  buy  and  sell  property 
should  be  as  anxious  that  those  with  whom 
they  deal  should  get  their  full  rights  as  we 
are  in  our  dealings,  would  there  be  more  or 
less  harmony  in  society  ?  " 

"  Suppose  that  all  the  whites  in  the  country 
should  treat  the  coloured  people  as  you  and  I 
do,  would  this  be  a  better  and  a  happier  na- 
tion?" 

"  Suppose  that  all  who  profess  and  call 
themselves  Christians  should  keep  as  near  to 
the  example  of  Jesus  Christ  as  we  do,  would 


The  Present  Issue  109 

it  be  easier  or  more  difficult  for  others  to  be 
Christians  ? " 

"  Suppose  that  all  men  tried  to  live  by  the 
Golden  Rule  as  earnestly  as  we  do,  and  no 
more,  would  brotherly  love  be  promoted?  " 

"  Suppose  that  all  other  Christians  were  as 
anxious  that  sinners  should  be  saved  as  we 
are,  and  no  more  so,  how  many  would  be 
reached  by  the  Gospel?  " 

We  said  above  that  just  now  the  world  was 
beginning  to  ask  this  same  question  in  regard 
to  nations.  Has  a  nation  any  more  right  to 
try  to  live  for  itself  than  has  a  man  for  him- 
self? It  was  just  because  Austria  acted  on 
this  impossible  doctrine  of  individual  rights, 
and  undertook  to  avenge  her  honour  by  at- 
tacking Serbia,  that  all  Europe  has  been 
plunged  into  hell.  Has  a  nation  any  right  to 
live  and  act  unto  itself  when  such  action  must 
destroy  the  peace  and  happiness  of  all  other 
nations?  The  world  is  beginning  to  see  the 
impossibility  of  this  doctrine  when  practised 
by  nations  as  it  has  seen  its  impossibility 
among  persons.  It  is  seeing  that  no  nation 
can  to-day  wage  a  war  against  another  nation, 
without  waging  war  against  all  humanity. 


X 

DOCTRINE  AND  DEED 

IF  there  was  one  thing  that  the  outbreak  of 
the  present  war  taught  the  world,  it  was 
that  it  made  all  the  difference  in  the  world 
what  a  man  believed.  Gone  forever  is  all  that 
shallow  talk  to  the  effect  that  it  mattered  not 
what  doctrines  a  man  held,  what  creed  he 
avowed,  what  theology  he  assented  to — that 
action,  life,  deed,  was  all  that  counted,  that 
deeds  were  rarely  logical  consequences  of  any 
doctrine  behind  them. 

As  a  matter  of  fact  the  one  thing  this  war 
has  revealed,  in  its  outbreak  and  in  its  long 
and  awful  course,  is  that  deeds,  actions,  in 
every  case,  when  a  great  test  came,  were  the 
immediate  fruits  of  a  widely  held,  thoroughly 
elaborated,  tenaciously  clung  to,  system  of 
theology  or  philosophy  or  article  of  faith. 
The  one  thing  written  in  outstanding  letters 
against  the  whole  background  of  the  conflict 
is  "  as  a  man's  faith,  so  his  actions ;  as  a  man's 
doctrine,  so  his  deeds."  Consciously  or  un- 
110 


Doctrine  and  Deed  111 

consciously  a  man  or  a  nation  acts  out  a  creed 
when  the  crisis  comes.  Deeds  spring  out  of 
doctrine. 

It  is  an  interesting  fact,  that  more  than  a 
year  before  the  present  war  broke  out,  a  stu- 
dent and  admirer  of  modern  Germany  pointed 
out  the  fact  that  the  Kaiser  in  his  many  ser- 
mons and  addresses  to  his  people  never  used 
the  word  Christ,  but  always  the  word  "  God," 
and  he  raised  the  question  whether  the  Kaiser 
did  not  hold  the  Old  Testament  conception  of 
"  Jehovah,"  God  of  battles,  Lord  of  Hosts, 
rather  than  the  New  Testament  conception 
of  the  Father,  the  forgiving,  gentle,  com- 
panionable Spirit  revealed  in  Christ.  If  this 
were  true,  our  writer  went  on  to  say,  it  did 
not  promise  well  for  the  future  peace  of 
Europe  or  for  gentleness  as  the  prevailing  trait 
of  the  German  character.  We  have  before 
us  the  collection  of  the  Kaiser's  many  ad- 
dresses and  what  our  friend  says  is  true. 
"  God "  is  the  word  always  used,  never 
"  Christ."  Furthermore,  in  many  instances 
the  following  conjunction  of  words  appears : 
"  God  and  our  trusty  sword."  When  these 
words  are  used,  they  are  used  as  the  security, 
the  safety  of  the  German  people.  Recall  in 
connection  with  this  Tolstoy's  frequent  state- 


112  The  Challenge 

merits  that  the  God  of  the  Russian  Church  was 
only  a  magnified  general,  a  warrior,  often  con- 
ceived, he  imagined,  in  panoply  of  steel. 

May  it  not  be  that  it  is  because  of  this 
thought  of  God  as  warrior,  King  commanding 
great  hosts,  imperial  Judge  and  Ruler,  with 
might  and  wrath  as  attributes,  rather  than  the 
forgiving  Father  revealed  in  Christ,  whose 
love  is  all-inclusive,  whose  tenderness  is  over 
all,  and  knows  no  race  or  nation ;  who  accom- 
plishes His  purposes  by  gentle,  mysterious  mov- 
ing of  His  Spirit,  rather  than  by  cohorts,  is 
largely  responsible  for  that  spirit  which  be- 
lieves in  might  and  arms  and  domination  by 
force  as  the  methods  of  a  nation's  expansion 
and  influence  in  the  world?  This  attitude  of 
things  has  so  impressed  one  of  our  well-known 
and  widely  trusted  thinkers  that  in  a  book  he 
has  just  published  he  raises  the  question 
whether  it  might  not  be  wise  to  drop  the  word 
"  God  "  altogether  for  a  few  years,  and  use 
the  word  "  Christ  "  instead  ?  Seemingly  his 
thought  is  that  the  only  really  Christian  idea 
of  God  is  the  one  we  get  in  Christ,  while  the 
war  lords  mean  the  Jehovah  of  the  Book  of 
Kings  when  they  say  "  God."  However  this 
may  be,  according  to  our  conception  of  God 
will  be  our  acts  and  deeds.     If  we  believe  in 


Doctrine  and  Deed  113 

a  severe,  martkl  God,  with  lightnings  and 
thunderbohs  in  His  hand,  intent  only  on  His 
own  glory,  power  and  His  own  way,  we  shall, 
both  men  and  nations,  act  as  those  acted  who 
rushed  to  war  for  revenge  and  to  inflict  pun- 
ishment and  to  gain  their  own  ends.  If  we 
believe  in  the  Father  as  revealed  in  the  life, 
death  and  teachings  of  Jesus  Christ  we  shall 
act,  both  men  and  nations,  as  those  who  believe 
that  good-will  toward  all  men  is  the  weapon 
of  the  Christian. 

Again,  nothing  is  more  evident  than  that  the 
present  conflict  has  grown  out  of  a  doctrine, 
a  creed,  a  philosophy,  an  ideal,  as  directly  as 
an  oak  grows  out  of  an  acorn.  So  long  as 
men  and  nations  hold  this  doctrine,  this  ideal, 
just  so  long  then  will  be  wars  and  strifes. 
This  doctrine  is  expressed  so  trenchantly  by 
the  great  historian  Treitschke  that  we  quote 
his  own  words :  "  The  end-all  and  the  be-all 
of  the  State  is  power,  and  he  who  is  not  man 
enough  to  look  them  in  the  face  should  not 
meddle  with  politics.  The  advancement  of  the 
power  of  the  State  must  be  first  and  foremost 
the  object  that  guides  the  statesman's  policy. 
Among  all  political  sins  the  sin  of  feebleness  is 
the  most  contemptible;  it  is  the  political  sin 
against  the  Holy  Ghost."    There  is  one  philoso- 


114  The  Challenge 

phy  of  life.  It  is  held  by  thousands,  not  only  in 
Germany,  but  in  Russia,  England,  France  and 
America.  It  is  that  power  is  the  chief  end 
of  the  State — and  of  man  also.  It  puts  the 
nation  above  righteousness,  and  anything 
is  right  which  is  done  for  the  nation.  In  the 
individual  it  puts  success  above  the  methods 
of  its  achievement.  It  puts  nationalism  above 
humanity ;  a  frenzied  kind  of  patriotism  above 
the  kingdom  of  God;  racial  superiority  above 
brotherhood.  It  made  the  war  in  Europe;  it 
will  always  make  it  when  men  hold  it  as  a 
creed,  for  their  acts  will  grow  out  of  their 
faith.  On  the  other  hand,  if  man  or  nation 
holds  the  opposite  conception  of  State  and  in- 
dividual, the  Christian  conception,  the  one  al- 
ways on  the  lips  of  Christ  and  always  dominat- 
ing his  every  action,  that  of  service,  not  power 
the  chief  end  of  life;  ministry,  not  domination, 
the  glory  of  a  man  or  nation;  humanity  above 
nationality;  all  the  world  one's  fatherland; 
good-will  for  all  the  brethren;  a  desire  to  co- 
operate with  all  good  men  everywhere  in  re- 
deeming and  reclaiming  the  earth;  the  State 
existing  for  the  world  and  for  its  people ;  then 
we  shall  find  men  acting  as  brothers  and  not 
as  rivals,  and  we  shall  have  the  beautiful 
Christian  peace  in  the  heart  and  in  the  world, 


Doctrine  and  Deed  115 

the  peace  that  comes  simply  from  beheving 
the  Gospel. 

Again,  the  absurdity  of  saying  that  it 
matters  not  what  doctrines  one  holds,  what 
theories  underly  the  State,  is  being  made  mani- 
fest in  every  morning  newspaper  of  the  world. 
Read  any  page,  it  matters  not  what  the  subject, 
and  it  is  full  of  actions  that  spring  out  of 
convictions  as  deep-rooted  as  are  the  bases  of 
the  mountains.  Whether  it  be  the  slaughter 
going  on  in  Europe,  the  cruelty  in  our  prisons, 
the  conflicts  between  capital  and  labour,  the 
invasion  of  Mexico,  the  trials  in  our  courts, 
they  all  go  back  to  a  doctrine  which  all  nations 
and  millions  of  men  hold  both  tenaciously  and 
conscientiously,  namely,  the  doctrine  of  rights. 
It  is  a  pagan  doctrine,  and  it  is  producing 
pagan  results.  So  long  as  men  and  nations 
hold  it  we  shall  have  wars,  quarrels,  cruelties 
and  injustices  in  every  department  of  life. 
Fundamentally  it  is  the  doctrine  that  self  is 
the  first  consideration  of  life.  It  carries  with 
it  innumerable  implications,  such  as,  the  de- 
fence of  honour;  the  seeking  of  revenge  for 
wrongs  upon  oneself  or  against  the  nation; 
punishment  to  be  retaliatory  and  quid  pro  quo 
instead  of  redemptive  and  reformatory;  size 
and  force  the  basis  of  judgment;  might  makes 


116  The  Challenge 

right;  self-protection  the  chief  concern  of  life. 
It  is  this  that  made  the  war  in  Europe;  it  is 
this  doctrine  that  urges  so  many  to  cry  for  war 
with  Mexico ;  it  is  this  theory  that  makes  much 
of  the  strife  between  capital  and  labour;  it  is 
this  that  brings  our  people  into  court ;  it  is  this 
that  creates  most  family  dissension;  it  is  this 
that  makes  men  and  nations  enemies  instead  of 
co-operative  factors  in  the  world. 

Now  Jesus  Christ  simply  abhorred  the  whole 
thing.  He  condemned  it  every  time  He 
opened  His  mouth.  His  death  was  a  protest 
against  it.  All  His  teaching  is  of  another 
doctrine,  and  until  men  and  nations,  yes  even 
the  Church  itself,  come  to  believe  it  more 
heartily  than  they  do,  we  shall  have  all  these 
old  evils  going  on  forever.  And  this  doctrine 
is  that  of  duty  as  the  chief  end  of  man  and 
nations  instead  of  rights.  Men  are  here  not 
for  rights,  but  for  duty,  service,  ministry. 
The  implications  of  this  doctrine  are  good- 
will, forgiveness  of  the  enemy,  redemption  of 
one's  foes.  The  chief  end  of  man,  not  re- 
venge, not  retaliation,  not  reparation;  the  at- 
titude of  a  man  or  nation  not  how  can  I  pro- 
tect my  honour,  avenge  insults,  uphold  my 
rights,   but   what    service    can   I    render   the 


Doctrine  and  Deed  117 

weaker  man,  how  can  I  win  the  friendship  of 
the  nation  that  hates  me? 

Now,  whatever  one  may  think  about  the 
taking  of  the  teachings  of  Jesus  Hterally,  we 
defy  any  one,  taking  them  at  all,  to  get  any- 
thing else  out  of  them  than  these  doctrines. 
Jesus'  whole  teaching  cannot  be  made  other 
than  this  without  throwing  Him  away — which 
is  just  what  Bernhardi  urges  and  what  all 
the  militarists  do.  It  was  only  the  other  day 
that  a  clergyman  deliberately  remarked  to  us 
that  the  teachings  of  Jesus  were  not  meant 
for  our  age.  Certainly  a  great  number  of  so- 
called  Christians  in  our  age  shut  their  eyes  to 
them.  A  friend  recently  returned  from 
Europe  said :  "  It  is  noticeable  how  little  the 
German  pastors  read  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount 
in  the  churches  these  days;  and  I  think  I  de- 
tected a  tendency  in  the  British  Free  Churches 
to  stick  to  the  Old  Testament."  We  should 
think  it  would  trouble  the  conscience  of  some 
ministers  to  read  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  or 
even  the  Parables  at  this  time.  The  words 
of  Jesus  do  not  make  comfortable  reading  to 
many  just  now.  Again  remember  Tolstoy's 
story  of  hearing  the  priest  read  the  Ser- 
mon on  the  Mount  with  its  "  Love  your 
enemies,"  and  then  closing  the  Bible  and  pray- 


118  The  Challenge 

ing  that  God  would  send  the  Japanese  to  hell. 
We  have  had  some  instances  of  the  same  thing 
in  our  own  country  while  the  Mexican  crisis 
was  on — and  when  we  were  in  delicate  situa- 
tion with  Germany,  some  ministers  forgot  all 
Jesus  ever  said.  But  this  is  our  point:  until 
we  believe  with  all  our  heart  that  Christ's  doc- 
trine was  the  right  doctrine,  and  let  this  doc- 
trine permeate  every  fibre  of  our  being,  rise 
through  every  thought  and  feeling,  we  shall 
never  have  brotherhood,  good-will,  co-opera- 
tion, happiness,  righteousness,  peace;  and  we 
shall  never  have  even  the  beginnings  of  that 
heavenly  kingdom,  for  which  Christ  yearned, 
prayed,  lived  and  died. 


XI 


THE  WORLD'S  INCAPACITY  TO 
LEARN 

PERHAPS  the  most  discouraging  thing 
about  man  is  his  seeming  incapacity  to 
learn  from  his  own  experience,  or  from 
that  of  others.  Something  more  than  two 
years  ago  one  of  the  nations  of  Europe,  in 
spite  of  the  protest  of  England  and  France, 
in  spite  of  their  request  that  the  difficulty  be 
submitted  to  an  impartial  tribunal,  rushed  off 
to  punish  one  of  the  little  Balkan  States  for 
the  crime  of  one  of  its  citizens.  Another  great 
nation,  also  turning  its  back  to  England's  plea 
for  arbitration,  backed  Austria  in  this  deed, 
and  thus  all  Europe  was  plunged  into  blood- 
shed. And  yet  it  was  only  two  years  before 
this  that  all  of  these  Balkan  States,  of  which 
Serbia  was  one,  had  been  engaged  in  slaugh- 
tering and  butchering  one  another,  absolutely 
to  no  purpose,  and  with  a  ferocity  unequalled 
in  any  war,  except  this  war  in  which  the  na- 
tions are  now  engaged.  This  protracted  Bal- 
119 


120  The  Challenge 

kan  war  had  been  carefully  studied.  The  re- 
port was  well  known  in  every  European  na- 
tion, namely,  that  nothing  but  slaughter, 
misery,  hatred  and  poverty  had  come  out  of 
the  first  half  of  the  war,  when  the  so-called 
Christian  States  were  arrayed  against  the 
Turk;  and  that  nothing  but  more  slaughter, 
misery,  hatred  and  poverty  had  come  out  of 
the  second  war,  when  the  so-called  Christian 
States,  not  having  their  blood-lust  sated, 
rushed  at  each  other's  throats.  All  this  Aus- 
tria had  before  her.  All  this  she  knew.  Also 
she  might  have  known  that  to  go  to  war  with 
Serbia  meant  war  with  Russia,  and  that  that 
meant  Germany's  coming  in,  and  that  that 
meant  a  general  European  conflagration.  Yet 
in  spite  of  all  these  terrible  lessons  right  before 
her  eyes,  in  spite  of  all  these  certain  possi- 
bilities, in  she  rushed  and  the  end  is,  prac- 
tically, suicide. 

Suicide,  or  partial  suicide,  is  coming  more 
and  more  to  be  the  outcome  of  all  war.  For 
there  can  be  no  more  confined  war,  no  more 
wars  between  two  nations.  The  world  has  be- 
come such  a  neighbourhood,  become  so  in  spite 
of  those  who  dislike  it,  who  cry  "  national- 
ism "  in  a  world  where  their  own  inventions 
make  their  kind  of  nationalism  impossible,  that 


The  World's  Incapacity  to  Learn      121 

all  wars  must,  in  the  nature  of  things,  be  world 
wars.  The  end  of  the  Balkan  wars  was  sim- 
ply partial  self-destruction  for  all  who  entered 
them.  The  end  of  the  present  war  is  prac- 
tically self-extinction  for  the  one  which  be- 
gan it.  It  has  meant  self-impoverishment  for 
all  who  have  taken  part  in  it,  but  the  two  great 
Powers  who  were  most  responsible  for  it  have 
been  the  two  to  suffer  most.  They,  too,  are 
the  two  who  have  most  believed  in  war;  the 
two  which  have  refused  to  ardently  support 
the  growing  movement  in  the  world  to  support 
arbitration  and  a  world  court.  And  the  nation 
which  deliberately  began  the  war  has  suffered 
most  of  all. 

In  the  face  of  the  absolute  failure  of  the 
awful  Balkan  wars  to  settle  anything;  of  the 
inanity  of  it  all;  of  the  terrible  suffering  as 
the  only  end  of  it,  Austria  rushes  at  Serbia, 
with  the  result  that  nearly  two  and  a  half  years 
after,  while  the  world  pauses  on  this  anni- 
versary day,  the  only  result  is  millions  of  dead 
young  men,  millions  of  widows,  orphans  and 
heartbroken  mothers ;  millions  of  starving  chil- 
dren; billions  of  debts;  billions  of  property 
destroyed;  industry  paralyzed;  long,  deep 
hatreds  engendered;  seeds  of  future  strife 
sown  as  dragon's  teeth  by  the  way;  Austria 


122  The  Challenge 

herself  crippled,  impoverished,  made  ten  times 
more  impotent  than  ever.  All  because  of 
seeming  inability  to  learn  the  plainest  lessons 
history  ever  proved.  How  infinitely  better  off 
Austria  would  have  been  to-day  had  she  asked 
The  Hague  Tribunal  to  appoint  a  commission 
carefully  to  investigate  the  whole  Serbian- 
Austrian  situation,  and  then  to  have  made  a 
decision  fair  to  all  concerned.  She  might  have 
found  this  tribunal  bringing  certain  unpleasant 
facts  to  her  own  attention.  It  might  even  have 
recommended  that  Austria,  for  her  own  good 
as  well  as  justice  to  Serbia,  relinquish  cer- 
tain Slavic  territory.  But  how  happy  Aus- 
tria would  have  been  to-day,  compared  with 
her  present  desolation!  How  the  causes  of 
future  strife  would  have  been  removed — 
judicial  settlements  are  apt  to  remove  them, 
while  war  only  makes  more!  How  all  of 
Europe  would  have  been  saved  this  terrible 
visitation !  How  the  use  of  courts  instead  of 
war  would  have  been  encouraged  in  the  future ! 
What  an  impetus  would  have  been  given  to 
international  Christianity!  But,  alas,  she 
could  not  learn! 

The  question  many  are  asking  as  the  war 
drags  wearily  along  is :  Will  the  world  learn 
even  out  of  this  terrible  calamity  the  lesson  of 


The  World's  Incapacity  to  Learn      123 

the  futility  of  this  whole  war  business?  A 
good  many  are  saying :  "  This  will  be  the  last 
war.  The  world  will  be  so  sick  and  tired  of 
war  that  it  will  never  want  another.  The 
people  will  forbid  it,  even  if  the  governments 
want  it."  Well,  we  do  not  know.  We  have 
seen  so  much  of  the  inability  of  people  to  learn 
lessons  out  of  terrible  experience  that  we  do 
not  feel  sure  they  will  learn  out  of  this.  We 
heard  these  things  said  of  Bulgaria  after  her 
fearful  sufferings  of  only  five  years  ago;  and 
yet  see  with  what  eagerness  she  rushed  into 
this  war  almost  as  though  for  the  fun  of  the 
thing.  There  are  rumours  that  even  now  cer- 
tain nations  are  talking  vengeance  if  they  are 
defeated  in  this  war.  Another  nation  is  talk- 
ing of  a  trade  war  to  be  continued  after  the 
war  with  arms  is  over.  But  they  know  that 
such  a  trade  war  inevitably  leads  to  a  war  of 
guns.  And  as  for  the  people — well,  we  think 
many  have  lost  confidence  in  the  People — 
spelled  with  a  capital  P.  No  one  ever  spoke 
bigger  than  the  "  people "  before  this  war. 
We  ourselves  heard  them  at  one  of  those  great 
meetings  in  Stuttgart  ten  years  ago,  when  Ger- 
man and  French  workingmen  fell  on  each 
other's  necks  and  swore  that  never  would 
they  bear  arms  against  each  other  at  the  behest 


124  The  Challenge 

of  kings  and  governments;  they  would  all 
strike  at  the  first  rumour  of  war  and  paralyze 
the  government.  It  was  big,  brave,  beautiful 
talk,  but  all  these  German  Socialists  rushed  to 
invade  France  at  the  very  first  word  from  the 
Kaiser.  We  fear  they  would  again.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  one  of  the  things  this  war  has 
emphasized,  as  the  Balkan  wars  did  before  it, 
is  that  racial  instincts,  nationalism,  patriotism 
are  much  more  instinctive,  deeply  ingrained 
qualities  of  humanity  than  is  religion  of  any 
kind.  Only  in  the  elect  few  in  every  nation, 
those  who  have  got  as  close  to  Christ  as  did 
Paul  and  John,  does  Christianity  rise  above 
nationalism  or  racialism  when  the  stress  comes. 
No,  the  hope  is  not  yet  in  the  people.  But  no 
one  hopes  more  eagerly  than  does  the  writer 
that  this  war  may  open  their  eyes  to  the  fact 
that  they  are  but  the  pawns  of  a  false  game. 

And  the  evidences  are  not  altogether  en- 
couraging in  our  own  land.  Many  came  home 
from  Europe  two  years  ago  saying :  "  Surely 
America  will  learn  the  great  lesson  this  sud- 
den collapse  of  civilization  in  Europe  plainly 
teaches,  namely,  that  militarism  is  a  delusion 
and  inevitably  ends  in  catastrophe,  that  arma- 
ment as  a  means  of  keeping  the  peace  is  a 
sham,  that  nationalism  provokes  strife  in  the 


The  World's  Incapacity  to  Learn      125 

family  of  nations  just  as  does  individualism  in 
the  family  of  persons,  that  contiguous  nations 
cannot  live  happily  side  by  side  while  suspicious 
of  each  other  any  more  than  can  suspicious 
families ;  that  war  costs  more  than  it  can  bring 
in  this  era  of  civilization,  and,  finally,  that  any 
nation  which  wages  war  against  another  na- 
tion wages  war  against  humanity,  for  all  the 
others  must  suffer  more  or  less,  and  will  prob- 
ably be  drawn  into  the  struggle."     All  this 
many  who  had  been  in  Europe  when  the  war 
broke  out  thought  that  America  would  surely 
learn.     As  one  who  returned   from  Europe 
said :  "  America  ought  surely  to  see  the  futility 
of    this   whole   war   business."      And   many 
thought  that  surely  America  would  now  be- 
come a  great  peace  society  preaching  peace  to 
the  warring  nations  and  bending  all  its  ener- 
gies to   evolving   some   plan   for  permanent 
peace,  some  substitute  for  war.    But  it  is  the 
same  old  story.     America  has  seemed  just  as 
incapable  of  learning  as  has  any  nation  of 
Europe,  and  instead  of  turning  from  the  path 
down  which  Europe  has  rushed,  has,  in  a  blind 
frenzy,  rushed  right  into  the  same  path.    The 
war  has  proved  militarism  a  delusion  and  the 
precursor  of  the  direst  calamity  the  world  has 
ever  witnessed,  and  yet  never  was  America 


126  The  Challenge 

so  crazy  over  militarism  as  just  now — all  sorts 
of  camps  for  drilling  soldiers,  military  drills 
in  schools  and  colleges,  many  urging  universal 
conscription  and  some  States  having  already 
got  it  for  boys,  and  even  the  girls  have  gone 
off  to  learn  how  to  shoot  somebody.  We  are 
just  like  a  man  who,  having  seen  another  man 
killed  by  drinking  too  much  whiskey,  ran  right 
off  and  began  drinking  it  night  and  day. 

If  the  European  war  has  taught  anything 
it  is  that  the  whole  theory  of  keeping  peace  by 
competitive  armament  is  a  sham  and  a  hum- 
bug. And  yet  never  has  America  been  so 
rushed  into  the  competitive  armament  race  as 
now,  and  at  this  writing  we  are  even  con- 
sidering a  navy  that  must  be  large  enough  to 
beat  Great  Britain.  And,  curiously  enough, 
our  Senators  have  been  using  the  very  sen- 
tences we  heard  in  the  Reichstag  debate  some 
ten  or  twelve  years  ago. 

The  European  war  has  taught  us  that  ex- 
treme emphasis  on  nationalism  precipitates 
just  such  strife  as  we  are  now  witnessing. 
Many  thought  that  America  would  see  this 
and  become  the  great  protagonist  of  a  new  and 
larger  conception  of  nationality,  especially 
since  she  has  so  many  strains  of  blood  within 
her  veins.    But  no !    Strange  to  relate,  the  air 


The  World's  Incapacity  to  Learn      127 

is  full  of  just  such  Germanic  phrases  as  all  the 
world  was  condemning  before  this  war.  We 
are  everywhere  hearing  "  Americanism,"  "  na- 
tionalism "  "  America  first  " — all  these  phrases 
used  in  just  the  same  sense  that  Germany  has 
been  using  "  Pan-Germanism  "  and  "  Deutsch- 
land  iiber  Alles."  The  United  States  may  be 
pro-Allies  in  its  sympathy.  But  it  has  been 
conquered  by  Germany.  We  are  having  her 
militarism  urged  upon  us  and  her  conception 
of  nationalism  and  the  State.  There  is  a  re- 
markable resemblance  between  Roosevelt's 
speeches  and  Treitsche's. 

Many  had  thought,  seeing  that  the  syste- 
matic cultivation  of  suspicion  on  one  nation 
of  another  by  press  and  public  utterance  had 
much  to  do  with  bringing  on  the  war,  that  the 
United  States  would  learn  a  lesson  and  turn 
in  a  new  direction.  But  no ;  to  get  big  armies 
and  navies  it  is  necessary  to  have  a  foe.  So 
never  has  there  been  such  a  campaign  of  sus- 
picion carried  on  as  since  this  war  broke  out. 
At  first  Germany  and  Japan  were  chosen. 
Then  it  was  Canada.  Now  it  is  England 
against  whom  we  are  being  urged  to  arm  (see 
speeches  in  United  States  Senate  urging  naval 
appropriations).    Will  nations  never  learn? 


128  The  Challenge 

Finally,  one  would  think  that  this  country, 
seeing  the  horror,  the  devastation,  the  suicidal 
slaughter  of  this  war,  would  hate  war  and  with 
one  mighty  voice  of  sustained  unanimity  cry 
out:  "  No  more  of  this  forever.  We  will  find 
some  new  way.  We  will  lead  the  world  out  of 
this  morass.  Not  only  do  we  see  how  contra- 
dictory it  is  to  every  word  of  Jesus  Christ,  but 
we  see  how  absolutely  futile  it  is."  The  Bible 
itself  is  no  more  explicit  in  any  of  its  revela- 
tions than  is  this  war.  It  is  a  second  Bible. 
But  seemingly  this  nation  cannot  read  it,  can- 
not learn  its  lessons.  For  there  never  was  so 
much  crying  after  war.  Republicans  are  cry- 
ing for  it,  and  some  Democrats.  Generals  are 
praising  it,  as  well  as  are  some  clergymen. 
We  are  being  told  as  never  before  that  it  is 
the  mother  of  all  virtues  (witness  its  ennobling 
effect  on  the  Russian  soldiers  in  Poland  and 
the  German  soldiers  in  Belgium  and  Turkey). 
Even  Vice-President  Marshall  has  had  to  go 
out  of  his  way  to  warn  people  that  peace  may 
be  worse  than  war.  (Can  any  one  imagine  any 
kind  of  peace  being  worse  than  war  in  Poland 
just  at  present?)  Everywhere  there  seems  to 
be  a  real  yearning  to  get  into  war  with  some- 
body. When  the  Mexican  trouble  came  thou- 
sands thought  the  chance  had  come  and  howled 


The  World's  Incapacity  to  Learn      129 

for  war.  Mr.  Roosevelt  started  out  frantically 
to  raise  a  regiment  to  go  off  to  slaughter  the 
already  distracted  Mexican  people.  (Did  any 
one  ever  hear  of  Mr.  Roosevelt  showing  any 
such  enthusiasm  over  raising  a  regiment  of 
one  thousand  to  go  over  and  feed  the  starving 
Belgians  or  Poles?  Or  did  any  one  ever  hear 
of  Mr.  Roosevelt  spending  his  time  during  the 
last  two  years  contriving  anything  to  save 
Europe  from  this  horrible  scourge  again?) 
It  was  only  at  the  last  moment,  and  then  be- 
cause the  much  maligned  pacifists  got  behind 
the  President,  that  America  was  diverted  from 
Europe's  fate.  Is  it  not  strange  we  cannot 
learn  the  lesson  of  events?  Austria  had  a 
hundred  times  more  reason  to  punish  Serbia 
than  have  we  to  punish  Mexico.  We  condemn 
her,  and  we  see  the  result  of  her  attempt. 
And  yet  we  want  to  do  the  same  foolish  thing 
— and  do  it  facing  the  same  very  imminent 
probabilities.  For  can  any  one  doubt  that  if 
we  went  to  war  with  Mexico  that  before  the 
year  was  up  all  this  continent,  Canada  and  the 
South  American  States,  as  well  as  Japan, 
would  be  in  the  war  ? 

These  things  are  all  worthy  of  careful 
thought  on  this  anniversary  day.  After  all,  it 
may  be  that  the  hope  of  the  future  is  not  with 


130  The  Challenge 

governments,  not  even  with  the  people.  Both 
seem  quite  incapable  of  learning  life's  sim- 
plest lessons.  Perhaps  the  only  hope  is  with 
the  little  minorities  which  have  always  created 
the  new  orders.  Ever  since  Jesus  and  twelve 
men  began  the  great  revolution  it  has  been 
the  little  group  of  prophets  who  have  brought 
in  the  new  worlds.  It  has  never  been  the  gov- 
ernment, the  people,  not  even  the  Church,  but 
the  prophets  in  all  these  groups.  It  is  so  now. 
There  is  our  hope.  Just  as  it  was  the  half 
dozen  prophets  who  got  torture  out  of  the  po- 
litical and  ecclesiastical  systems  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  against  the  opposition  of  Church  and 
State,  so  it  will  be  the  little  group  who,  un- 
swayed by  the  popular  clamour,  undismayed 
by  seeming  failures,  find  war  and  all  prepara- 
tion for  war  absolutely  at  issue  with  every 
word  of  Jesus  Christ  and  His  whole  life,  who 
will  ultimately  save  the  world  from  war.  And 
even  the  promoters  of  the  League  to  Enforce 
Peace  will  find  that  when  it  comes  to  asking 
this  nation  really  to  join  a  federation  of 
European  States,  thereby  abrogating  some  of 
its  own  rights  for  the  sake  of  a  new  co-opera- 
tion, putting  humanity  above  nationalism,  it 
will  be  only  the  "  pacifists,"  and  the  most 
thoroughgoing  ones,  who  will  stand  by  them 


The  World's  Incapacity  to  Learn      131 

at  that  time,  with  their  gospel  that  the  nation 
should  lose  part  of  its  own  life  for  the  sake 
of  the  world.  For  this  is  its  logical  issue. 
And  only  the  little  minorities  see  that  this  way 
— the  way  of  Christ — is  the  only  way  to  peace. 


XII 

THE  LEAGUE  TO   ENFORCE  PEACE 

PRESIDENT  DAVID  STARR  JOR- 
DAN has  recently  published  an  inter- 
esting little  book,  "  Ways  to  Lasting 
Peace,"  in  which  he  enumerates  and  interprets 
the  thirty  proposals  now  before  the  world  for 
securing  lasting  peace  after  the  present  war  is 
over.  It  is  a  very  valuable  and  interesting 
book.  It  should  be  in  the  hands  of  everybody 
who  is  interested  in  the  effort  to  substitute 
judicial  processes  for  war,  a  stable  civilization 
for  one  subject  to  frequent  relapses  into  bar- 
barism. Of  all  of  these  thirty  plans  now  oc- 
cupying the  attention  of  the  world  that  pro- 
posed by  the  League  to  Enforce  Peace  (called 
in  England  the  League  of  Nations)  has  at- 
tracted the  attention  of  the  American  people 
most  widely  and  aroused  most  enthusiasm. 
The  recent  conference  held  in  Washington  at- 
tracted nation-wide  attention,  enlisted  many 
recruits  and  raised  a  sum  of  money  perhaps 
thirty  times  larger  than  any  peace  organiza- 
132 


League  to  Enforce  Peace  133 

tion  known  to  history  ever  raised  at  one  meet- 
ing— a  sum  approaching  $400,000.  In  con- 
nection with  this  the  President  of  the  United 
States  practically  endorsed  the  idea,  and  ex- 
pressed, in  a  speech  that  has  gone  around  the 
world,  the  hope  that  the  United  States  would 
urge  this  League  of  Nations  and  enter  into  it 
with  the  other  Powers. 

The  idea  is  not  new.  As  far  back  as  the 
sixteenth  century  Henry  IV  elaborated  a  fed- 
eration of  the  European  States,  with  a  central 
senate,  and  a  proportionate  contribution  from 
the  various  nations  to  a  common  international 
army  and  navy.  The  Great  Design  of  Henry 
aimed  directly  at  the  substitution  of  judicial 
processes  for  war.  Just  after  the  Pilgrims  had 
sailed  from  Holland  for  America  a  young 
Dutch  scholar,  Hugo  Grotius,  wrote  his  famous 
"  Rights  of  War  and  Peace,"  which  looked 
toward  a  World  Court  with  some  common 
agreement  of  the  nations,  and  only  fifty  years 
afterward  William  Penn  suggested  a  general 
alliance  of  the  European  nations  to  form  a 
Diet  or  Congress  of  Nations.  A  century  and 
a  quarter  ago  the  great  philosopher,  Immanuel 
Kant,  in  a  tract  called  "  Eternal  Peace," 
pleaded  for  the  political  organization  of  the 
world.    Since  his  day  this  plea  for  some  form 


134i  The  Challenge 

of  federation  has  had  advocates  both  in 
Europe  and  America :  such  men  as  Victor 
Hugo,  Cobden,  Bright  and  WilHam  Ladd, 
Elihu  Burritt  and  David  Low  Dodge. 

The  plan  for  a  League  of  Peace  came  promi- 
nently before  the  world  again  when  Andrew 
Carnegie  made  his  famous  address  at  St.  An- 
drew's University  as  Lord  Rector  in  1905. 
He  chose  "  The  League  of  Peace  "  as  the  title 
of  his  address  and  advocated  the  association 
of  the  great  Powers  in  a  league  which  should 
agree  to  submit  all  disputes  to  a  common  court 
and  should  combine  all  their  forces  into  one 
common  army  and  navy.  Where  Mr.  Car- 
negie's program  went  further  than  the  present 
League  to  Enforce  Peace  goes  was  that  he 
would  have  the  League  keep  the  peace  of  all 
the  world,  prohibiting  by  its  combined  force 
any  two  nations  anywhere  going  to  war,  on  the 
ground  that  no  two  nations  can  go  to  war 
without  seriously  affecting  all  the  nations  of 
the  world.  Ever  since  Mr.  Carnegie's  famous 
address,  which  was  circulated  in  all  languages 
up  into  the  millions,  the  idea  of  such  a  League 
has  found  champions  both  in  England  and 
America. 

Curiously  enough,  the  recent  movement  has 
been  simultaneous  in  America  and  England. 


League  to  Enforce  Peace  135 

A  little  over  a  year  ago  Dr.  Hamilton  Holt 
asked  a  little  group  consisting  of  ex-President 
Taft,  President  Lowell,  Ambassador  Marburg, 
Professors  Giddings,  Clarke  and  Willoughby, 
Mr.  John  Hays  Hammond,  Mr.  Short,  Mr. 
Heuston  and  others  to  meet  at  an  evening  con- 
ference at  the  Century  Club,  New  York.  The 
writer  of  this  page  was  included  in  the  number. 
At  that  gathering  the  present  movement  so  far 
as  America  is  concerned  was  initiated.  This 
group  continued  to  dine  together  monthly  at 
the  Century  Club,  and  there  the  present  plat- 
form of  four  brief  articles  was  practically  de- 
termined upon.  This  group  then  voted  to  call 
a  national  conference  in  Philadelphia  to  bring 
the  plan  before  the  people.  Meantime  a  sim- 
ilar series  of  conferences  was  being  held  in 
England.  There  such  men  as  Lord  Bryce,  G. 
Lowes  Dickenson  and  John  A.  Hobson  were 
leading  it,  and  they  chose  the  name  "  A  League 
of  Nations."  Our  New  York  group  kept  in 
constant  touch  with  the  English  group,  and 
some  of  the  group  have  had  interviews  with 
the  British  leaders,  much  correspondence  has 
been  carried  on,  and  Mr.  Dickenson  has  met 
the  American  group  several  times.  Both  Mr. 
Asquith  and  Sir  Edward  Grey  have  openly  en- 
dorsed the  movement.     The  English  name  is 


136  The  Challenge 

better  than  the  American,  and  it  is  too  bad  that 
the  American  group  did  not  adopt  that  name, 
as  it  defines  the  main  purpose  better  than  the 
term  "  League  to  Enforce  Peace."  For  any 
league  of  nations  must  have  many  functions 
beyond  merely  enforcing  or  maintaining  peace. 
What  is  the  aim  of  those  in  America  and 
England  who  would  have  the  nations  enter  into 
a  League?  Exactly  the  same  aim  in  principle 
as  our  own  nation  had  when  it  made  a  federa- 
tion of  the  States.  They  would  make  a  sort 
of  United  Nations  of  the  World,  based  on  the 
United  States  of  America,  except  that  they  do 
not  expect  a  centralized  government.  Origi- 
nally the  thirteen  States  of  our  own  nation 
had  its  own  army  and  its  own  navy.  When 
they  federated  these  armies  and  navies  were 
combined,  and  this  combined  force  acted  as 
sheriff  and  defence  for  all.  It  could  be  much 
smaller,  too,  than  were  all  the  separate  armies 
and  navies  added  together.  The  League  to 
Enforce  Peace  and  the  League  of  Nations 
would  have  the  Powers  form  a  sort  of  federa- 
tion, each  nation  pledged  to  carry  its  dispute 
with  another  nation  to  a  Court  of  Nations,  a 
World  Court,  as  the  States  carry  their  disputes 
to  the  Supreme  Court,  the  National  Court,  at 
Washington,  and  all  the  armies  and  navies 


League  to  Enforce  Peace  137 

being  combined  into  an  international  army 
corresponding  to  the  national  army  for  the 
States.  And  just  as  our  national  army  will 
not  allow  a  State  to  break  the  peace,  so  this 
international  army  will  not  allow  a  nation  in 
the  League  or  Federation  to  break  the  peace. 
We  are  often  asked  how  can  a  pacifist  en- 
dorse the  League  to  Enforce  Peace  or  the 
League  of  Nations?  Perhaps  we  can  answer 
this  question  with  some  authority,  inasmuch 
as  we  were  one  of  the  originators  of  this 
League  and  helped  to  write  its  platform.  We 
are  ourselves  a  pacifist;  that  is,  we  believe  in 
the  substitution  of  judicial  processes  for  war, 
and  we  believe  that  wars  as  a  means  of  set- 
tling international  disputes  are  archaic,  futile 
and  unchristian.  But  we  welcome  the 
League  because  ultimately  it  makes  for  the 
peace  of  the  world  just  as  did  the  league  of 
States  make  for  the  peace  of  the  United 
States,  and  because  it  will  ultimately  make  for 
reduced  armaments,  just  as  federation  of  the 
States  calls  for  an  infinitely  smaller  armament 
here  than  would  we  have  if  every  State  of  our 
fifty  was  in  the  rivalry  of  State  armies  and 
navies.  Mr.  Holt  used  an  illustration  in 
Washington  that  is,  to  our  mind,  a  very  close 
analogy.     He  said  that  in  the  frontier  days 


138  The  Challenge 

a  community  of  forty  cowboys  existed.  Every 
one  was  armed  to  the  teeth.  Every  one  was 
his  own  sheriff,  and  there  was  continual  war- 
fare among  these  individuals.  One  day  they 
organized  into  a  community  and  appointed 
two  sheriffs.  All  the  guns  and  knives  were 
pooled,  and  these  two  sheriffs  only  allowed  to 
carry  arms.  They,  with  two  guns  over 
against  the  former  forty,  preserved  the  peace 
of  the  community  and  brought  any  breaker 
of  it  before  the  local  court,  or  the  justice  of 
the  peace.  This  is  what  the  originators  of  the 
League  want  the  nations  to  do. 

Two  unfortunate  things  have  somewhat 
frightened  many  pacifists  away.  First  was 
the  placing  of  the  word  enforce  in  the  name. 
This  was  not  originally  in.  It  was  put  in  at 
the  Philadelphia  meeting  with  a  very  large 
opposition  vote,  in  which  we  took  part.  As 
we  said  before,  it  would  have  been  much  bet- 
ter to  have  taken  as  a  name  "  The  League  of 
Nations."  The  other  has  been  the  utterly  un- 
warranted use  of  the  ideal  of  a  League  of 
Nations  in  which  the  United  States  should 
take  part  by  the  militarists  to  urge  a  huge  in- 
crease in  the  army  and  navy  of  the  United 
States,  on  the  ground  that  we  need  it  as  our 
contribution   to   the    international   army   and 


League  to  Enforce  Peace  139 

navy.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  League  to  En- 
force Peace  has  never  taken  any  stand  on 
this  matter.  Its  members  number  many  who 
think  our  army  and  navy  are  large  enough, 
many  who  believe  they  should  be  increased. 
At  an  early  meeting  of  the  officers  of  the 
League  a  resolution  was  passed  to  the  effect 
that  the  League  take  no  stand  on  this  matter 
and  that  men  of  all  shades  of  opinion  should 
be  received  into  its  membership  and  be  eligible 
for  official  positions  in  it.  Only  the  other  day 
when  an  ardent  militarist  wished  to  link  up 
the  League  with  a  movement  for  increased 
defence  he  was  told  he  could  not  do  so. 
Nothing  in  the  platform  of  the  League  bears 
in  any  way  upon  the  question  of  "  prepared- 
ness." Indeed,  the  two  men  who  had  most 
to  do  with  originating  it  entered  upon  the 
movement  because  it  seemed  the  only  and  the 
shortest  road  to  gradual  disarmament  to  the 
lowest  point  possible  for  the  world  before  the 
millennium  shall  have  come. 


XIII 

WHY  NOT  A  LEAGUE  OF  THE 
AMERICAN  NATIONS? 

4LM0ST  annually  some  distinguished 
f'\  American  visits  all  the  South  American 
States  as  an  ambassador  of  our  good- 
will. Such  men  as  Messrs.  Roosevelt,  Root, 
Shepherd,  Bryan  and  Burton  have  made  this 
tour  and  been  most  cordially  received. 
Through  the  Pan-American  Union  the  rela- 
tionship of  all  the  American  nations  has  been 
growing  more  and  more  intimate.  Our  ac- 
ceptance of  the  offer  of  Argentina,  Chile  and 
Brazil  to  mediate  in  the  Mexican  problem 
created  most  favourable  impression  in  South 
America.  The  European  war  has  developed 
a  new  community  of  interest  among  the  na- 
tions of  this  continent.  It  seems  as  if  the 
Mexican  problem  was  on  its  way  to  a  solu- 
tion that  will  ensure  the  good-will  of  that  un- 
fortunate country  toward  the  United  States. 
In  view  of  this  growing  community  of  in- 
terest, this  new  co-operation  being  manifested, 
140 


A  League  of  American  Nations?      lil 

this  fact  that  the  destinies  of  all  the  peoples  on 
this  continent  are  more  or  less  bound  up  to- 
gether, has  not  the  time  come  for  the  creating 
of  a  League  of  the  American  Nations? 

We  believe  that  now  is  the  opportunity  and 
the  time  for  the  President  of  the  United  States 
to  do  one  of  the  greatest  constructive  acts  of 
history.  Let  him  ask  every  State  on  this  con- 
tinent to  send  official  delegates  to  a  Congress 
of  American  Nations  to  be  called  in  Washing- 
ton and  then  let  him  propose  to  the  nations 
represented  that  they  all  unite  in  a  League  of 
American  Nations,  a  real  official  Pan-Ameri- 
can Union,  for  mutual  prosperity,  mutual 
peace  and  mutual  defence. 

Let  this  League,  as  its  first  act,  establish  an 
All-American  Court  of  Justice  at  Washington 
or  some  city  to  be  decided  upon,  this  court  to 
consist  of  nine  judges  to  be  chosen  by  the 
nations  party  to  the  League. 

Let  all  the  nations  in  this  Pan-American 
League  then  agree  to  carry  all  disputes  of  a 
justiciable  nature  that  might  arise  between 
them  to  this  court. 

Let  all  the  nations  in  the  League  then  agree 
that  where  a  case  is  not  capable  of  being  set- 
tled in  a  court  it  shall  be  submitted  to  a 
Council  of  Conciliation  to  be  selected  by  the 


142  The  Challenge 

nations,  or  to  an  arbitration  board  to  be 
chosen  by  the  nations  involved. 

Let  all  the  nations  then  agree  that  if  any- 
one nation  of  the  League  is  attacked  from 
without  all  the  other  nations  will  unite  in 
resisting  the  offending  or  invading  power. 

Let  the  nations  of  the  League  hold  frequent 
official  congresses,  which  shall  have  such  legis- 
lative and  executive  powers  as  the  various  na- 
tions may  empower  them  to  exercise.  Their 
conventions  might  be  subject  to  the  ratification 
of  the  various  States  of  the  League. 

We  believe  the  time  is  ripe  for  this  creation 
of  this  League  of  American  Nations.  We 
will  go  further  and  say  that  the  time  calls  for 
it. 

Europe  is  involved  in  a  catastrophe  which 
will  absorb  all  her  powers  of  recovery  for 
many  years.  She  will  have  great  questions  of 
readjustment  of  her  own  States,  in  which  we 
shall  have  little  say.  While  we  wish  to  enter 
at  once  into  plans  for  permanent  peace  in  the 
whole  world,  it  will  be  some  time  before  we 
can  do  much  in  Europe.  Meantime  this  war 
has  driven  all  American  States  into  a  neces- 
sarily closer  unity.  This  unity  should  at  once 
be  conserved  by  a  still  closer  unity.  It  should 
be  a  real  unity.     It  might  easily  be  a  unity  that 


A  League  of  American  Nations?       143 

would  ensure  peace  forever  between  the  na- 
tions of  this  continent, 

Europe  is  now  crippled,  and  there  is  no  need 
that  fear  should  possess  any  nation's  heart. 
But  fear  works  not  by  reason,  but  by  wild 
imaginings.  So,  let  it  be  granted  that  some 
European  nation  might  cast  envious  eyes  on 
some  American  republic,  might  be  inclined  to 
purposely  pick  a  quarrel  as  excuse  for  inva- 
sion; let  it  even  be  granted  that  some  crisis 
might  arise  where  some  great  Power  in  re- 
sentment or  revenge  might  feel  bound  to  en- 
gage in  war  with  some  State  of  North  or 
South  America.  Our  Monroe  Doctrine  binds 
the  United  States  to  enlist  upon  the  side  of 
any  nation  attacked,  but  it  does  not  bind  the 
remaining  nations  to  rush  to  the  aid  of  the 
United  States.  But  with  this  League  of 
American  Nations  we  are  all  bound  up  together 
in  common  peace  and  common  war  if  it  come 
from  the  outside.  Then  whoever  would  make 
war  against  any  nation  on  this  continent 
would  make  war  against  them  all.  As  a  mat- 
ter of  fact,  all  would  be  involved  in  it  as  mat- 
ters stand,  so  real  is  the  unity.  But  let  us 
have  an  official  unity  that  we  may  stand  be- 
fore all  the  world  as  one.  It  would  be  our 
great  defence. 


1441  The  Challenge 

This  Union  of  American  Nations  would 
bring  about  that  adaptation  of  the  Monroe 
Doctrine  that  has  sooner  or  later  got  to  come. 
Reduced  to  its  simplest  terms,  the  Monroe 
Doctrine  is  a  protectorate  of  the  United  States 
over  the  Central  and  South  American  States. 
It  guarantees  the  integrity  of  American  terri- 
tory so  far  as  foreign  invasion  is  concerned. 
It  was  a  paternalism  which  was  greatly  appre- 
ciated by  the  South  American  States  in  their 
days  of  weakness.  But  it  is  paternalism,  and 
some  of  the  greater  Powers  are  rather  resent- 
ing it.  They  feel  that  the  United  States  occa- 
sionally assumes  a  dictatorial  power  she  would 
not  display  were  it  not  for  this  sense  of  being 
the  guardian  of  the  Western  world.  But  sup- 
pose the  League  of  American  Nations  came; 
then  we  should  have,  not  the  United  States 
guardian  of  all  the  other  nations,  but  all 
banded  together  in  a  new  Monroe  Doctrine  of 
mutual  defence  of  all  by  all. 

Such  a  League  would  also  vastly  simplify 
the  whole  question  of  national  defence  for 
each  nation  in  the  League.  It  is  a  great  prob- 
lem for  many  of  them  now.  How  much  shall 
Brazil  and  Argentina  arm  to  defend  them- 
selves against  each  other?  What  navy  shall 
Peru  have  to  defend  herself  from  Chile?     All 


A  League  of  American  Nations?      145 

this  problem  would  be  greatly  simplified, 
would,  indeed,  eventually  pass  away,  if  the 
League  were  formed  and  an  agreement  to  set- 
tle all  disputes  by  judicial  methods  signed. 
Besides  this  there  would  be  all  the  force  of  all 
the  League  lined  up  against  the  offending 
State.  The  question  of  armament  would  then 
become  for  all  the  States  this:  What  arma- 
ment is  our  share  toward  the  collective  force 
of  all  against  an  offending  State  within  the 
League  or  an  attacking  or  invading  nation 
from  without?  How  much  simpler  the  de- 
fence problem  the  United  States  is  now  con- 
sidering would  become  in  the  light  of  such  a 
League;  at  least,  how  much  more  logical  it 
would  become! 

Perhaps  some  one  may  say :  But  this  League 
of  American  Nations  with  its  own  court  will 
retard  that  larger  world  movement  for  a 
league  of  all  nations  with  a  World  Court  at 
The  Hague!  No,  it  will  hasten  it.  There 
will  be  the  example  and  model  of  twenty  sov- 
ereign nations  having  solved  the  problem  of 
settling  disputes  by  judicial  methods  instead 
of  wars.  And  a  Pan-American  League  with 
its  American  Court  will  be  no  more  hindrance 
to  a  World  League  with  a  World  Court  than 
is  the  Supreme  Court  for  the  States  within 


146  The  Challenge 

the  United  States — which  is  a  model  League 
of  States — to  the  proposed  Pan-American 
Court.  Again,  we  ask,  has  not  the  time  come 
for  a  League  of  American  Nations?  Is  it  not 
the  great  opportunity  of  America  at  once  to 
call  a  congress  looking  toward  this  League? 


XIV 

THE   WORLD    COURT   TO   DISPLACE 
WORLD  WAR 

IT  is  a  very  significant  thing  that  a  congress 
to  promote  the  estabhshing  of  a  World 
Court  at  The  Hague  should  have  been  held 
in  Cleveland,  Ohio,  just  as  the  most  terrible 
and  repugnant  tragedy  of  the  war — the  sinking 
of  a  ship  full  of  women  and  children,  giving 
them  no  opportunity  to  escape — should  have 
taken  place.  It  has  made  the  whole  world 
shudder.  More  than  this,  it  has  made  the 
whole  world  say,  "  There  must  be  some  other, 
better  way."  But  the  whole  series  of  events 
during  the  last  half  year  has  been  compelling 
men  to  feel  that  some  new  way  of  settling 
international  disputes  must  be  found,  for  the 
sinking  of  the  Lusitania  is  but  one  incident 
in  a  long  succession  of  horrors.  The  civilized 
world  has  been  growing  afraid  of  its  own 
barbarities :  Belgium  devastated,  with  unspeak- 
able suffering  of  millions  of  women  and  chil- 
dren; millions  of  the  best  men  of  eight  nations 
147 


148  The  Challenge 

engaged  in  blowing  each  other's  heads  to 
pieces  with  shrapnel;  Poland  a  frightful  hell 
of  unmitigated  suffering,  its  cold,  bleak  deserts 
covered  with  thousands  of  naked  children  wan- 
dering about  seeking  holes  in  the  ground; 
Serbia  one  big,  plague-ridden  victim  of  typhus; 
the  best  young  men  of  Germany  all  being 
slaughtered,  leaving  the  weaklings  and  incapa- 
bles  to  breed  the  next  Germany;  heartbreaks  in 
a  million  homes,  and  millions  of  little  children 
to  grow  up  to  know  no  fathers ;  cities,  cathe- 
drals, colleges,  farms,  homes  burned  by  scores 
and  scores;  industries  crippled;  poverty  a 
gaunt  spectre,  claiming  every  land;  posterity 
burdened  with  a  debt  that  shall  demand  half 
the  productive  labour  of  centuries;  and,  with 
all  this,  religion  made  a  mockery,  Christianity 
set  back  a  century,  agnostics  bred  by  the 
thousands,  and  millions  of  hearts  of  men  filled 
with  deadly,  lasting,  blasting  hatreds.  This 
is  what  the  world  has  been  witnessing,  and  it 
really  is  beginning  to  feel  the  futility  as  well 
as  the  wickedness  of  it  all.  Never  before,  at 
any  time  in  history,  have  so  many  men  been 
doubting  force  as  the  basis  of  a  true  civiliza- 
tion. This  last  act,  the  sinking  of  the  Lusi- 
tania,  is  not  an  isolated  irruption  of  barbarism 
through  the  thin  crust  of  our  civilization;  it 


The  World  Court  149 

is  a  product  of  militarism,  an  inevitable  con- 
comitant of  a  civilization  based  on  force,  a 
normal  feature  of  war.  War  itself  is  the 
great  barbarity,  the  supreme  atrocity,  the  final 
relapse  into  savagery. 

For  forty  years  Europe  has  been  basing  her 
civilization  upon  force.  She  has  said  that 
force,  guns,  armament,  dynamite,  powder  and 
shells  were  the  only  things  that  gave  a  nation 
a  power  in  the  world,  or  made  its  voice  listened 
to;  the  only  defence  of  a  nation  against  its 
enemies.  They  have  all  said  that  armaments 
were  the  only  things  that  "  could  preserve  the 
peace  of  Europe."  Everywhere  one  turns  in 
Europe  guns  are  more  conspicuous  than  pulpits, 
soldiers  more  conspicuous  than  school  teachers, 
arms  more  in  evidence  than  churches.  One 
nation  has  spent  twelve  dollars  on  preparation 
for  war  to  every  dollar  on  religion  and  educa- 
tion put  together.  As  a  result  of  this  philoso- 
phy of  defence  and  peace,  Europe  became  a  vast 
powder  magazine  and,  as  a  consequence,  when 
a  half-crazed  Serbian  threw  a  match  into  it, 
it  went  off.  Powder  always  does  go  off  one 
time  or  another.  A  great  Englishman  re- 
marked to  us  that  he  had  come  to  feel  that 
when  armament  reaches  a  certain  point,  it 
goes  off  by  spontaneous  combustion.     It  has 


150  The  Challenge 

gone  off  in  Europe.  If,  after  this  war,  the 
nations  go  back  to  the  same  business,  it  will  go 
off  again. 

Very  many  of  us  in  America  are  losing  our 
faith  in  force  and  violence  to  accomplish  either 
peace  or  justice.  We  are  saying,  "  Some  new 
way  must  be  found."  We  are  asking,  "  What 
is  that  new  way?  What  shall  we  substitute 
for  war?  " 

The  World  Court  Congress  answered  that 
the  only  substitute  for  war  was  an  International 
Court  of  Arbitral  Justice.  We  already  have  a 
World  Tribunal  established  by  The  Hague 
Conferences.  The  Second  Hague  Conference 
unanimously  voted  for  the  establishment  of 
a  permanent  court  before  which  nations  might 
try  their  cases.  Had  a  Third  Hague  Con- 
ference been  held  the  question  of  the  constitut- 
ing of  this  court  would  probably  have  been 
one  of  its  chief  tasks.  The  Cleveland  Congress 
called  upon  the  nations  to  make  the  establish- 
ment of  this  court  the  first  great  task  of  the 
nations  after  the  close  of  this  war.  It  would 
have  as  many  nations  as  will  become  signa- 
tory to  it,  and  then  they  shall  proceed  to  select 
judges — perhaps  fifteen — who  shall  sit  in 
permanent  session  as  does  the  Supreme  Court 
at    Washington.      Indeed    the   court    recom- 


The  World  Court  151 

mended  by  this  congress  to  the  nations  was 
based  upon  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States.  While  this  congress  was  debating 
the  court,  another  group  of  men  meeting  in 
New  York  were  debating  a  federation  of 
the  Great  Powers,  and  as  many  of  the  others 
as  care  to  come  into  a  League  of  Peace  which 
shall  be  bound  together  by  a  mutual  agreement 
to  submit  disputes  to  this  court,  and  to  furnish 
whatever  power  might  be  necessary  to  enforce 
its  decisions.  (It  is  very  doubtful  if  much 
power  would  ever  be  needed.) 

We  believe  that  the  world  is  ready  to  try 
this  World  Court  as  the  battlefield  of  the 
future.  We  believe  that  many  in  Europe  are 
seeing  the  futility  of  war  and  are  ready  to 
try  the  court.  What  we  wish  to  do  here  is 
to  point  to  some  signs  that  indicate  its  pos- 
sibility and  its  success. 

First  of  all,  the  history  of  the  evolution  of 
judicial  processes  in  individual  relationships 
confirms  us  in  believing  that  the  principle  of 
evolution  from  force  to  reason  will  hold  good 
among  nations.  Once  individuals  settled  all 
their  disputes  by  force,  by  that  free  fighting  in 
which  nations  are  now  indulging,  by  swords, 
by  killing  each  other,  by  extermination.  After 
a  while  they  worked  out  of  this  up  into  the 


152  The  Challenge 

"  trial  by  battle."  Then  they  passed  on  to  the 
stage  of  the  duel.  This  was  an  advance,  be- 
cause the  principle  of  "  regulation  "  entered  in- 
to the  duel.  But  civilized  men  have  passed  be- 
yond the  stage  of  the  duel.  They  have  come  up 
into  the  world  of  courts.  No  gentleman  now 
settles  disputes  by  fists  or  swords  or  guns.  Many 
men  have  even  passed  beyond  courts  and  are 
settling  disputes  by  arbitration,  by  conference 
and  by  Christian  forbearance  and  forgiveness. 
"  Come  now,  let  us  reason  together,"  has  be- 
come the  principle  of  all  good  men. 

The  States  within  the  nation  have  passed 
through  the  same  stages  of  evolution  and 
reached  the  same  high  level.  Once  the  States 
within  the  United  States  were  disposed  to  go 
to  war  with  each  other  and  to  settle  their  dis- 
putes by  force.  Then  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  United  States  was  established,  and  gradu- 
ally the  States  acquired  confidence  in  it  until 
now  war  between  any  two  States  of  the  United 
States  is  unthinkable.  And,  for  encourage- 
ment, it  should  be  remembered  that  the  Su- 
preme Court  of  the  United  States  waited 
longer  for  a  case  than  did  The  Hague  Tribunal 
which  was  established  in  1897. 

We  believe  that  this  same  principle  of  evo- 
lution will  work  among  nations.    Indeed  there 


The  World  Court  153 

are  encouraging  signs  of  its  beginnings.  There 
have  already  been  over  two  hundred  and  fifty- 
settlements  of  disputes  by  arbitration.  Sixteen 
disputes  have  already  been  carried  to  The 
Hague  Tribunal.  The  nations  have  all  been 
thinking  of  a  World  Court  and  have  all  voted 
for  it.  One  of  Europe's  leading  men  said  to 
us  last  summer,  "  If  a  permanent  court  had 
been  in  existence  in  Europe,  with  representa- 
tives chosen  by  the  Great  Powers,  in  whom 
they  had  confidence,  sitting  on  its  bench,  I 
sometimes  think  this  present  war  would  have 
been  averted."  It  might  have  been  if  the 
nations  had  not  all  been  so  heavily  armed.  But 
the  point  is  this:  the  evolution  from  force  to 
reason  has  worked  in  all  other  relationships; 
it  has  begun  in  international  relationships ;  may 
we  not  confidently  believe  it  will  fulfil  itself 
there,  and  the  court  house  supplant  the  gun  ? 

But  the  most  hopeful  sign  is  the  rapidly 
growing  sentiment  that  there  can  be  only  one 
standard  of  ethics  in  the  world — the  same  for 
groups  as  for  individuals,  for  nations  as  for 
men.  It  is  a  new  ethical  idealism  for  nations 
although  it  has  long  been  the  idealism  of  all 
decent  men.  The  trouble  has  been  that  we 
have  been  living  under  two  standards  of  ethics 
• — Christian  for  individuals,  pagan  for  groups, 


154.  The  Challenge 

communities,  nations.  We  have  demanded  that 
individuals  live  as  Christians  toward  each 
other,  but  have  complacently  allowed  corpora- 
tions and  nations  to  live  as  pirates  toward 
each  other.  But  there  is  no  such  thing  as  a 
double  standard  of  ethics  in  the  kingdom  of 
God,  That  which  is  right  for  a  man  is  right 
for  the  State;  that  which  is  wrong  for  a  man 
to  do  is  wrong  for  a  corporation  or  nation 
to  do.  Taking  things  or  land  that  do  not  be- 
long to  one  is  just  as  much  stealing  when  done 
by  a  nation  as  when  done  by  a  man.  If  it  is 
wrong  for  a  man  to  take  revenge,  it  is  wrong 
for  a  nation  to  take  revenge.  If  it  is  wrong 
for  a  man  to  settle  his  difficulties  in  the  street 
with  his  fists,  it  is  wrong  for  the  nations  to 
settle  their  difficulties  on  the  seas  with  gun- 
boats. Nations  are  under  the  same  law  of 
charity  and  forgiveness  as  individuals  in  any 
system  of  ethics  that  can  last.  The  law  of  our 
country  toward  Japan  is  the  law  that  governs 
us  in  our  relations  with  our  brother  in  our 
town.  If  it  is  wrong  for  a  man  to  kill  his 
brother  on  the  streets  of  his  city,  it  is  just 
as  wrong  for  a  nation  to  destroy  a  brother 
nation  in  this  beautiful  world.  Both  the 
Church  and  the  nation  have  been  full  of  this 
spurious,  double,  unchristian  morality.    It  has 


The  World  Court  155 

been  largely  responsible  for  the  unchristian 
relationships  of  nations.  It  is  passing  very 
fast,  and  the  most  hopeful  augury  of  a  new 
internationalism  is  this  arising  in  the  race 
conscience  of  a  morality  really  Christian  and 
single,  in  which  communities  and  nations  are 
accountable  at  the  same  bar  of  righteousness  as 
is  a  man. 

Finally,  there  is  a  rapidly  growing  sentiment 
that  the  time  has  come  for  nations  to  live  by 
a  doctrine  of  duties  rather  than  of  rights,  as 
all  good  Christian  men  do.  The  Christian 
gentleman  has  long  ago  ceased  thinking  all 
the  time  about  getting  rights  or  avenging  his 
honour.  He  considers  his  life  as  a  mission,  as 
did  his  Master.  He  is  one  sent  to  lift  up  the 
world,  not  to  get  his  own  rights.  But  grant- 
ing that  this  ideal  may  be  too  high  for  any  but 
the  saints,  that  it  may  be  asking  too  much  of 
even  the  average  good  Christian  to  abnegate 
contention  for  his  rights  at  all  times  and  under 
even  the  most  provoking  circumstances,  even 
granting  that  at  times  he  may  be  fairly  justified 
in  standing  up  for  his  rights,  every  Christian, 
even  the  most  indifferent  one,  has  reached  the 
stage  where  he  will  not  insist  on  obtaining  his 
own  rights  at  the  expense  of  the  discomfort  and 
suffering  of  the  whole  neighbourhood.     Even 


156  The  Challenge 

the  State,  which  does  not  technically  call  itself 
Christian,  takes  this  matter  into  its  own  hands 
and  sees  that  no  single  citizen  undertakes  the 
securing  of  rights  and  justice  or  the  defending 
of  his  honour  in  any  way  that  may  work  injury 
to  others.  The  community  is  above  the  in- 
dividual, and  no  matter  how  just  our  own 
grievance  may  be  we  have  no  right  to  set  about 
righting  it  or  punishing  our  enemy  if  it  is 
going  in  any  wise  to  make  others  suffer.  This 
is  recognized  in  every  civilized  town.  One 
must  not  take  justice  into  his  own  hands,  not 
only  because  no  man  is  a  good  judge  of  his 
own  case,  but  chiefly  because  he  is  sure  to 
disturb  the  welfare  of  the  community.  One 
may  say  he  has  a  right  to  do  as  he  will  in  his 
own  house  and  grounds.  If  by  adhering  to 
those  rights  he  violates  the  common  laws  of 
health  and  threatens  the  town  with  typhoid 
fever,  he  immediately  finds  he  has  no  right  at 
all  to  do  these  things.  Individual  rights  may 
never  be  secured  at  the  expense  of  the  common 
rights.  This  is  so  recognized  in  civilized  lands 
that  it  is  rare  that  even  the  worst  types  of  men 
will  jeopardize  the  lives  of  women  and  chil- 
dren in  the  pursuit  of  their  seeming  rights. 

The  question  then  immediately  arises :  has 
the  time  not  come  when  nations  should  be  com- 


The  World  Court  157 

pelled  to  respect  these  same  laws?  Has  one 
nation  the  right  to  plunge  all  Europe  into  hell, 
or  even  to  make  all  the  other  peaceful  nations 
suffer — for  all  nations  suffer  vastly  from  the 
war  of  even  two — simply  to  secure  its  own 
rights,  even  where  it  is  recognized  by  all  that 
the  rights  have  been  violated  ?  Has  any  nation 
the  right  to  go  to  war  to-day  without  first 
consulting  all  the  other  nations  and  exhausting 
every  existing  means  of  securing  justice  when 
such  a  course  invariably  means  the  ruin  of 
thousands  of  disinterested  and  innocent  people, 
and  may  mean  the  drawing  of  many  other 
nations  into  the  war?  What  Mr.  Taft  said 
at  the  dedication  of  the  Pan-American  Peace 
Palace  at  Washington  must  be  applied  to  all 
nations.  He  said  that  no  two  nations  on  the 
American  Continent  had  any  right  to  go  to 
war  and  disturb  all  the  others,  and  that  he 
hoped  the  time  would  soon  come  when  the 
nineteen  nations  would  say  to  any  other  two 
considering  war,  "'  You  must  stop."  It  is 
time  this  came  in  all  the  world.  We  believe 
many  are  thinking  of  it. 

Anything  similar  to  the  affair  of  Austria- 
Hungary  demanding  her  rights  from  Serbia 
should  never  again  be  possible  in  a  civilized 
world.    It  has  long  ago  been  rendered  impos- 


158  The  Challenge 

sible  among  civilized  individuals  and  com- 
munities. Nations  should  live  by  the  same 
ethical  standard  regarding  the  question  of 
rights.  How  utterly  insignificant  is  the  ques- 
tion of  Austria's  satisfaction  and  future 
guarantees  from  Serbia  compared  with  all 
Europe  plunged  into  purgatory,  as  we  see  it 
now!  And  yet  this  unspeakable  agony  of  the 
nations,  this  overthrowing  almost  of  civiliza- 
tion, is  due  to  one  nation  insisting  on  getting 
her  rights,  regardless  of  the  rest  of  the  world. 
Even  though  Austria  had  not  foreseen  a 
European  conflagration,  and  believed  that  no 
other  nation  would  interfere  with  her  punish- 
ment of  Serbia,  she  had  no  right,  in  our  modern 
complex  and  intertwined  civilization,  to  pre- 
cipitate the  general  disturbance  of  Europe's 
orderly  progress  that  even  a  war  confined  to 
the  two  nations  would  create.  But  there  is 
every  reason  to  believe  that  Austria  had 
general  warning  that  this  course  of  inflicting 
punishment  on  Serbia  and  protecting  her  future 
rights  would  draw  other  nations  into  the  con- 
flict. Such  a  course  was  nothing  more  than  a 
crime  against  all  humanity,  regardless  of  the 
justice  of  the  cause. 

Any  nation  which  to-day,  with  the  present 
oneness  of  the  world,  declares  war  against  an- 


The  World  Court  159 

other  country  thereby  declares  war  against 
every  other  country,  and  the  time  has  come  to 
recognize  this  fact.  No  nation  can  go  to  war 
to-day  without  going  to  war  against  all 
humanity.  Has  not  the  time  come  to  say  to 
nations,  just  as  we  say  to  individuals:  "  If  the 
securing  of  justice,  the  obtaining  of  your 
rights,  the  upholding  of  your  honour,  promises 
in  any  way  to  disturb  the  peace  of  the  rest  of 
the  world  and  make  all  the  innocent  nations 
suffer,  you  must  refrain  from  individual  ac- 
tion and  do  as  individuals  do:  try  your  case 
before  some  competent  judicial  body  by  orderly 
processes  of  law."  As  a  matter  of  fact,  this 
is  the  surest  way  to  get  justice  in  the  end. 
And  many  are  thinking  this  way  and  demand- 
ing that  there  be  a  court  where  those  who 
insist  on  rights  may  obtain  them,  without  in- 
volving all  the  rest  of  the  world. 


XV 
THE  BEST  NATIONAL  DEFENCE 

ON  the  morning  following  last  Memorial 
Sunday  the  report  appeared  in  many 
papers  that  on  the  previous  day  hun- 
dreds of  churches  took  up  an  offering  for  the 
victims  of  the  war  in  Europe.  Whereupon 
we  said  to  ourselves:  If  the  United  States 
needed  defence  from  European  invasion,  as 
the  various  leaders  of  the  preparedness  move- 
ment say  she  does,  these  offerings  to  Europe's 
starving  women  and  children  are  better  pro- 
tection than  all  the  gunboats  we  could  build. 

It  is  this  thought  we  should  like  to  develop 
a  little  here.  It  is  very  evident  that  there  is  a 
more  or  less  widespread  feeling  of  bitterness 
toward  the  United  States  in  Germany,  Great 
Britain  and  France.  As  we  have  already  said, 
it  is  not  fundamentally  due  to  our  sale  of  muni- 
tions to  the  Allies,  nor  to  our  refusal  to  take 
part  in  the  war.  The  real  reason  is  that  our 
brothers  feel  that  we  are  growing  rich  out 
of  their  poverty,  becoming  commercially  great 
160 


The  Best  National  Defence  161 

out  of  their  distresses,  and  while  thus  prosper- 
ing mightily  are  hardly  bearing  any  of  their 
burdens  upon  our  hearts,  are  not  entering  into 
their  sufferings,  are  not  making  any  sacrifice 
even  distantly  approaching  theirs.  They  do 
not  blame  us  for  getting  rich.  We  cannot  help 
that.  The  new  commerce  we  have  gained  was 
commerce  Europe  was  forced  to  drop.  The 
vast  supplies  South  America  was  buying  from 
Germany  she  must  now  buy  from  us.  Our 
own  factories  must  supply  what  once  we  im- 
ported. On  the  other  hand,  the  factories  of 
the  warring  nations  being  closed,  their  fields 
not  yielding  sufficient  food  for  great  armies, 
there  not  being  sufficient  men  to  till  these  fields, 
they  must  buy  great  cargoes  of  meat  and  grain 
from  us.  For  none  of  these  things  do  they 
blame  us,  but  they  do  feel  that  while  we  are 
becoming  rich,  we  are  becoming  correspond- 
ingly hard-hearted;  they  do  feel  that  even  if 
we  were  not  willing  to  share  our  comfortable- 
ness with  their  suffering,  we  ought,  at  least,  to 
be  ready  to  give  greatly  out  of  our  superfluity. 
And  we  are  not.  How  can  impoverished 
France  help  feeling  some  contempt  for  us  when 
she  is  bringing  thousands  upon  thousands  of 
Serbian  women  and  children  to  her  war-bur- 
dened country  to  support  until  the  war  is  over  ? 


162  The  Challenge 

And  how  can  Britons  help  feeing  bitterness 
toward  us  when  they  are  doing  seven  times  as 
much  for  the  Belgians  as  are  we?  Now, 
these  memorial  offerings,  could  they  be  mul- 
tiplied until  they  had  come  from  every  church, 
could  they  mount  up  into  millions,  poured  into 
Europe  would  do  more  than  anything  else 
America  could  do  to  remove  this  natural  and 
just  bitterness  the  great  peoples  entertain 
toward  us. 

We  are  not  alone  in  this  opinion.  Among 
several  others,  three  eminent  Americans  have 
visited  Europe,  and  they  have  all  come  home 
to  say  just  what  we  have  been  saying.  In  a 
recent  address  at  Garden  City,  Dr.  John  R. 
Mott  dwelt,  at  considerable  length,  upon  the 
bitter  feeling  he  had  found  in  Europe  upon  his 
first  visit;  how  he  found  that  where  that  bitter- 
ness had  decreased,  as  it  had  in  some  places, 
it  was  because  of  our  gifts  and  our  splendid 
work  in  the  prison  camps.  He  then  said,  that 
what  would  give  America  commanding  prestige 
in  the  days  when  peace  terms  came  to  be  de- 
bated would  be  great  sacrificial  gifts  to  starv- 
ing, suffering,  sorrowing  Europe.  Professor 
Benjamin  F.  Battin,  the  international  secretary 
of  the  World  Alliance,  who  has  talked  with 
almost  everybody  in  authority  in  Europe  dur- 


The  Best  National  Defence  163 

ing  the  past  year  and  a  half,  says  the  same 
thing.  We  will  let  Dr.  Charles  S.  Macfarland 
speak  for  himself.  We  quote  from  his  report 
of  his  recent  visit  to  the  European  churches : 

"  The  one  thing  which  has  been  our  strong- 
est asset  of  influence  has  been  the  relief  work 
of  America  and  the  American  churches.  But 
it  has  not  been  adequate  or  proportional.  I 
learned  in  conference  with  Edgar  Rickard, 
honorary  secretary  of  the  Belgian  Relief  Com- 
mission, that,  while  men  like  Mr.  Hoover  had 
rendered  the  greatest  service,  our  contributions 
of  money  had  been  disproportionate  as  con- 
trasted with  Canada  and  Great  Britain,  al- 
though, of  course,  this  is  offset  by  our  gifts 
of  food  and  supplies.  Indeed,  our  most  seri- 
ous weakness  is  due  to  the  reproach  in  which 
we  are  held  because  of  the  allegation,  more  or 
less  made  among  all  the  nations,  that  we  are 
utilizing  the  war  for  our  economic  and  com- 
mercial gain.  Our  best  counteracting  in- 
fluence is  and  will  be  our  work  of  relief.  Again 
and  again,  men  who  criticized  our  Government 
and  our  commercial  interests  declared  that  our 
common  people  and  high-minded  men  of 
wealth  had  largely  rectified  mistakes  in  other 
quarters." 

It  is  to  be  greatly  hoped  that  every  Christian 


164!  The  Challenge 

in  America  will  send  something  to  Europe  not 
only  to  help  them  in  their  suffering,  not  only 
to  save  them  from  starvation,  but  also  to  show 
that  his  heart  is  with  them  and  also  to  make 
his  own  country  able  to  go  to  the  table  where 
the  nations  shall  soon  gather  to  discuss  peace 
terms,  as  one  welcomed  and  as  one  who  has 
taken  some  part  in  their  mutual  tribulations. 

We  wish  now  to  make  a  suggestion  about  the 
best  national  defence.  We  do  not  believe  with 
Senator  Chamberlain  that  this  country  is  in 
danger  of  invasion  from  England  after  this 
war  is  over,  nor  with  Mr.  Putnam  that  it  is 
in  danger  of  invasion  from  Germany,  nor  with 
Mr.  Rea  that  it  is  in  danger  of  invasion  from 
Japan.  If  we  ever  are  invaded,  it  will  be  be- 
cause we  have  not  behaved  ourselves.  Further- 
more, no  nation  in  Europe  will  be  in  any  posi- 
tion to  invade  anything  by  the  time  this  war  is 
over.  But  for  the  sake  of  argument  let  us 
suppose  there  is  some  dim,  remote  possibility 
of  some  desire  upon  the  part  of  some  European 
nation  to  invade  America.  What  is  the  best 
form  our  defence  can  take?  Most  will  say 
at  once,  "  Submarines,  cruisers,  dreadnoughts, 
aircraft,  these  are  the  first  line  of  defence." 
We  do  not  think  so.  We  believe  there  is  a 
much  better,  surer,  infallible  first  line,  a  mode 


The  Best  National  Defence  165 

of  defence  not  like  the  old,  but  new,  unique, 
yet  we  believe  most  practical  of  all.  We  wish 
this  nation  would  try  it.  It  is  this,  namely, 
that  the  United  States  appropriate  the  cost  of 
a  few  battleships,  appropriate  about  one-tenth 
of  what  the  preparedness  leaders  are  asking  for 
armament — the  sum  of  one  hundred  million 
dollars — and  offer  it  to  Europe  on  condition 
of  her  repentance  and  desire  to  arrange  a  peace 
that  shall  be  permanent,  for  the  rehabilitation 
of  her  ruined  homes,  her  devastated  cities,  her 
fallen  temples,  her  impoverished  peoples ! 

We  would  put  fifteen  millions  into  Belgium, 
rebuilding  the  little  homes  of  her  peasants  and 
industrial  workers  and  advancing  capital  to  her 
business  men. 

We  would  put  ten  millions  into  Serbia,  rein- 
stating it  as  a  nation  and  bringing  back  her 
scattered  peoples,  also  reimbursing  France  for 
her  care  of  the  Serbians  on  her  home  soil. 

We  would  put  thirty  millions  into  Poland, 
both  Russian  and  German  Poland.  It  would 
not  go  far,  fifteen  millions  in  each,  but  it  would 
save  some  from  starving,  would  reinstate  some 
in  homes,  help  some  begin  to  till  the  soil;  any- 
how it  would  awaken  an  everlasting  gratitude. 

But  would  we  give  to  Germany  and  Austria, 
France  and  England,  the  countries  which  are 


166  The  Challenge 

at  war?  Yes,  to  the  peoples.  None  of  these 
gifts  should  be  made  to  governments,  but  to 
the  people.  For  it  is  not  the  people  who  make 
the  wars,  it  is  they  who  suffer  from  them.  Only 
this  week  we  saw  a  letter  from  an  Austrian  at 
the  front  in  which  he  said :  "  What  is  it  all 
about,  anyhow  ?  "  The  women  and  children, 
at  least,  have  had  no  part  in  it,  and  it  is  for 
them  we  would  give.  We  would  have  our 
Government  spend  fifteen  millions  in  each  one 
of  these  warring  countries  to  put  the  people 
on  their  feet  again  and  to  relieve  their  suf- 
fering. One  hundred  millions  altogether,  a 
small  fraction  of  what  the  militarists  are  ask- 
ing, a  sum  this  rich  nation  would  never  miss. 
We  believe  it  would  be  better  defence,  more 
efficient  preparedness  than  one  billion  spent  on 
armament. 

For  the  gratitude  of  these  peoples  would  be 
so  great,  such  a  sense  of  our  good-will  would 
sweep  through  their  hearts,  that  all  thoughts  of 
war  would  be  impossible  for  generations.  Any 
enmity  they  now  cherish  would  be  utterly  an- 
nihilated. You  cannot  cherish  hatred  toward 
him  who  has  saved  your  life.  No  govern- 
ment, however  it  might  wish  to  attack  us — and 
we  cannot  believe  that  even  any  government 
would  ever  wish  to — could  move  its  people  to 


The  Best  National  Defence  167 

take  arms  against  the  United  States.  A  nation 
that  would  attack  us  after  such  an  act  of 
good-will  would  be  made  up  of  men  who  would 
kill  their  own  mothers — and  there  is  no  such 
nation.  After  such  an  act  of  mercy  to  Europe 
the  United  States  would  not  need  a  gunboat 
for  fifty  years  so  far  as  Europe  is  concerned. 

Impractical?  Just  as  impractical  as  the 
Gospel.  It  is  just  what  Jesus  commanded  as 
the  one  workable  philosophy  of  life  for  in- 
dividuals. And  it  has  been  the  one  philosophy 
that  has  worked  with  them.  It  would  work  as 
well  with  nations  had  any  nation  the  faith  once 
to  do  it.  And  what  might  not  come  out  of  it 
beyond  even  this  great  thing  of  which  we  have 
been  speaking  ?  It  would  be  a  new  thing  in  the 
world.  It  would  set  a  new  standard  of  na- 
tional greatness.  It  would  raise  the  United 
States  to  a  height  of  influence  and  power  that 
an  army  of  millions  and  a  navy  covering  all  the 
seas  could  never  give  her.  She  could  say 
almost  anything  to  Europe  when  The  Hague 
Conferences  met.  All  suspicions  of  her  na- 
tional ambitions  would  be  allayed,  for  they 
would  all  say,  "  This  is  her  ambition :  to  do 
good."  It  might  be  the  beginning  of  eternal 
peace,  for  it  would  generate  a  new  spirit  of 
good-will  in  the  world.     Any  nation  in  ex- 


168  The  Challenge 

istence  would  sign  arbitration  treaties  with  us, 
any  nation  would  agree  to  join  with  us  in  build- 
ing a  World  Court.  Futhermore,  the  nations 
of  Europe  might  say  to  one  another  after  such 
a  testimony  that  a  nation  could  be  Christian, 
"  Perhaps  we  also  might  try  this  new  and 
Christian  way ! " 

What  an  opportunity  for  a  President  of  the 
United  States  to  immortalize  himself  forever 
by  doing  this  great  thing!  Not  Constantine, 
not  Charlemagne,  not  William  of  Orange,  not 
Gustavus  Adolphus,  not  even  Lincoln,  would 
stand  higher  than  he  in  all  history.  And  we 
believe  the  American  people  would  rise  to  such 
a  call  from  its  President. 


XVI 

THE  NATION'S  REAL  FOES  WITHIN 
ITS  OWN  BORDERS 

NOT  Germany,  not  England,  not  Japan 
are  the  real  enemies  of  the  United 
States,  but  certain  evils  within  the 
nation's  own  borders.  It  is  interesting  to  note 
that  Congressman  Richmond  P.  Hobson,  who 
has  been  one  of  the  most  ardent  advocates 
of  increased  armament,  in  his  recent  speech 
in  New  York  City,  should  have  said  nothing 
about  armies  and  navies  as  instruments  of  pre- 
paredness, but  should  have  made  the  keynote 
of  his  address  the  fact  that  a  sober  nation 
was  the  best  prepared  nation.  His  exact 
words,  as  reported  in  the  *'  New  York  Times," 
are  worth  quoting:  "The  first  real  element 
of  preparedness  is  to  be  sober.  This  is  the 
chief  basis  of  German  efficiency.  It  is  no 
longer  a  mere  question  of  sentiment  or  of 
religion  alone  concerning  the  use  of  alcohol  as 
a  beverage.  Emperor  Wilhelm,  long  before 
the  war,  discovered  through  science  the  danger 
169 


170  The  Challenge 

of  alcohol  in  the  national  life,  while  other  na- 
tions have  given  it  special  attention  mainly 
since  the  war  began. 

"  In  his  speeches  at  the  naval  and  military- 
academies  the  German  Emperor  placed  the  ban 
upon  alcohol  as  a  beverage,  even  including  the 
national  drink,  beer,  the  consumption  of  which 
has  been  greatly  reduced  and  is  gradually  being 
lessened  throughout  the  empire.  It  is  well 
known  that  the  Kaiser  had  long  ago  banished 
liquors  from  his  own  table. 

"  But  now,  more  than  ever,  the  war  has 
taught  the  people  of  Europe  the  danger  of 
alcohol.  For  years  Germany  has  dealt  with 
the  subject  scientifically.  At  the  birth  of  every 
child  there  the  attending  physician  is  required 
to  give  an  '  alcohol  card  '  to  the  mother  or 
some  other  member  of  the  family  at  the  time, 
which  contains  a  warning  to  guard  the  infant 
from  all  effects  of  alcohol. 

"  The  war  has  simply  promulgated  this 
good  and  lasting  effect  on  the  future  genera- 
tions of  all  those  countries.  According  to  the 
official  Russian  reports  on  the  suppression  of 
the  liquor  traffic  in  that  country  the  non-use 
of  liquors  has  already  saved  more  lives  than 
war  has  destroyed. 


The  Nation's  Real  Foes  171 

*'  Scientifically  we  now  know  that  alcohol 
produces  degeneracy.  One  child  in  every  five 
of  drunkards  and  drinking  parents  shows 
symptons  of  degeneracy,  if  it  is  not  actually  a 
degenerate.  And  in  every  seventh  birth  where 
both  parents  are  addicted  to  the  use  of  liquor 
one  child  will  be  deformed.  But  where  both 
parents  are  abstainers  nine  children  in  ten  will 
be  normal. 

"  People  who  use  alcohol  furnish  the  only 
species  in  all  creation  which  does  not  rise  and 
develop  naturally,  while  animals  and  other 
growing  things  thrive  according  to  nature's 
rules.  Through  the  evil  of  alcohol  many  cen- 
turies have  brought  down  degeneracy  on  the 
heads  of  men.  That  is  why  nations  have  per- 
ished and  left  only  bleaching  bones  by  the 
waysides." 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  there  is  not  one  one- 
thousandth  as  much  thought  in  the  minds  of 
Germany  of  conquering  the  United  States  as 
there  is  in  the  mind  of  the  Liquor  Trust;  there 
is  not  one  one-thousandth  as  much  plotting 
against  America  in  Japan  as  there  is  in  the 
councils  and  conventions  of  the  distillers  and 
the  brewers;  there  is  not  in  all  the  world  any 
enemy  the  United  States  need  fear  one  one- 
thousandth  as  much  as  the  saloons  which  have 


172  The  Challenge 

our  cities  in  their  grip.  While  we  are  going 
into  hysterics  over  invasions  of  Germany  and 
Japan,  they  are  busy  fighting  their  ov^n  battles, 
and  are  giving  us  but  slender  thought.  Not  so 
the  real  foe,  the  liquor  interests.  They  are 
taking  advantage  of  this  foolish  fear,  and 
laying  deep  plans,  and  organizing  as  never 
before  to  seize  the  nation  and  get  it  into  even 
a  tighter  grip.  That  is  the  pity  of  it,  that 
we  should  be  bending  all  our  energies  to  pre- 
pare against  imaginary  foes,  and  neglecting  the 
enemy  in  our  midst,  and  the  enemy  is  not  slow 
to  seize  the  opportunity.  It  was  only  the  other 
day  that  one  who  knows  said  to  us:  "The 
liquor  interests  are  seizing  this  opportunity, 
while  the  nation  is  crazy  over  this  prepared- 
ness business,  to  regain  what  they  have  lost 
and  make  securer  that  which  has  not  been 
taken  from  them."  Yes,  Congress,  which 
should  have  taken  up  the  issue  of  national 
prohibition,  must  spend  the  whole  session 
wrangling  over  defence  programs.  The  coffers 
of  the  societies  fighting  the  saloon  must  remain 
empty  while  the  defence  societies,  security 
and  navy  leagues  get  all  the  people's  money. 
What  a  pity  we  let  ourselves  become  so  blinded 
to  the  fact  that  our  real  enemies  are  in  our 
own   national  household,   and   while  we  are 


The  Nation's  Real  Foes  173 

arming  against  fancied  foes  outside,  leave  them 
to  sack  the  house ! 

Again,  while  we  are  making  such  dreadful 
stew  over  the  loss  of  lives  of  a  few  Americans 
in  the  course  of  international  strife,  and  going 
into  frenzies  over  two  or  three  crimes  of 
Germany  against  United  States  citizens,  we 
forget  all  about  the  thousand  times  more 
crimes  against  United  States  citizens  being 
daily  committed  within  our  own  borders. 
Great  corporations  perpetrate  unspeakable 
atrocities  and  injustices  against  our  citizens  in 
every  State,  acts  to  make  the  blood  boil  hap- 
pen in  Colorado  and  Lawrence  strikes,  scores 
of  lives  are  burned  up  by  shops  that  violate  the 
fire  laws,  as  recently  happened  in  New  York, 
thousands  of  little  children  are  dwarfed  in  fac- 
tories violating  child  labour  laws,  thousands 
of  men  are  killed  by  preventable  accidents  in 
shops  that  will  not  install  safety  appliances, 
thousands  of  men  and  women  have  their  lives 
sapped  away  by  having  to  work  in  unsanitary 
conditions — and  we  forget  all  these  things, 
turn  away  from  them  now  to  cry  for  repara- 
tion from  an  outside  foe,  which,  in  a  state  of 
madness,  takes  a  few  American  lives.  It  makes 
one  wonder,  seeing  what  we  have  described 
above,  whether  this  sudden  hue  and  cry  pro- 


174  The  Challenge 

ceeds  from  a  real  concern  for  the  lives  of 
American  citizens  or  from  a  desire  for  a  quar- 
rel or  a  fight.  Else  why  this  indifference  to 
the  continued  taking  of  life  within  our  own 
borders?  A  society  has  just  been  formed  to 
protect  American  rights.  Will  it  turn  its  at- 
tention to  the  daily  innumerable  violations  of 
those  rights  in  our  own  country?  Who  are 
our  real  enemies,  the  Germans  or  the  Ameri- 
cans who  killed  the  innocents  for  greed  ? 

What  a  pitiable  sight  it  is  to  see  a  desperate 
man  seeking  work  while  at  home  a  wife  and 
several  little  children  have  no  fire  or  bread! 
We  saw  it  just  the  other  day,  some  little  chil- 
dren shivering  from  cold  and  with  no  food. 
We  put  ourselves  in  the  father's  place  for  a 
moment,  and  it  maddened  us!  In  all  our 
cities  families  are  living  in  rooms  not  fit  for 
pigs.  In  our  city  streets  boys  are  learning  to 
be  criminals,  and  our  jails  cannot  hold  the 
graduates.  Our  school  teachers  are  telling  us 
that  half  the  pupils  are  under  nourished.  Our 
whole  economic  system  is  out  of  joint  and  full 
of  injustices.  Girls  are  driven  into  supplement- 
ing too  meagre  incomes  by  solicitation  on  the 
streets.  And  with  all  these  awful  facts  facing 
us,  with  anarchists  and  revolutionaries  bred 


The  Nation's  Real  Foes  175 

by  them,  we  turn  from  their  healing  and 
amelioration  to  put  all  our  thought  and  all 
our  money  into  preparedness  against  some 
foreign  foe,  whom  even  the  most  eager  ad- 
vocates of  preparedness  cannot  agree  upon. 
Colonel  Thompson  tells  us  it  is  the  Germans, 
but  his  ardent  co-labourer.  Senator  Chamber- 
lain, has  just  told  us  it  is  the  English,  and 
some  one  else  says  it  is  the  Japanese. 

There  is  a  fine  passage  in  Dr.  Charles  S. 
Macfarland's  new  book,  "  Christian  Service 
and  the  Modern  World,"  which  we  might 
much  better  heed  just  now  than  the  cries  of 
the  frantic  advocates  of  preparedness  against 
outside  enemies:  "  Our  age  and  generation  call 
for  a  solemn,  searching,  fearless  utterance  of 
solemn,  searching  and  fearful  truths.  The 
greatest  prophet  of  the  Old  Testament,  without 
one  hesitating  utterance  or  deviating  line, 
declared  that  the  protection  and  peace  of  Israel, 
in  her  international  relations,  were  to  be  se- 
cured only  ivhen  within  her  ozvn  borders  op- 
pression ceased  and  justice  found  its  way  to  the 
abode  of  her  children,  and  not  until  then  could 
the  sword  be  beaten  into  the  ploughshare.  Oh, 
if  the  nations  of  Europe  had  only  thought  less 
about  their  foes  without  and  more  about  their 
foes  within!     We  blame  them  because  they 


176  The  Challenge 

are  not  democratic  either  in  form  or  in  fact, 
but  perhaps  there  is  still  greater  danger  to  the 
nation  that  has  the  form  without  the  fact;  that 
raises  hopes  before  its  people  which  it  does 
not  enable  them  to  realize,  and  ideals  before 
the  world,  which  it  sadly  fails  to  demonstrate 
within  itself.  Ours  is  as  yet  a  bewildered  and 
confused  democracy." 


XVII 
THE  LEAVINGS  FOR  CHRIST 

THE  other  day  a  friend,  commenting  on 
the  struggle  of  a  certain  church  to  keep 
aHve,  remarked :  "  I  have  a  friend  in 
that  church  who  could  subscribe  $10,000  a 
year  for  its  work  and  never  miss  it.  He  spends 
twice  that  sum  on  his  yacht  every  summer. 
As  it  is,  he  subscribes  about  $200  a  year  to 
the  church."  It  is  not  an  uncommon  situa- 
tion. The  church  in  so  many  cases  gets  simply 
the  leavings.  If  one  should  go  through  some 
of  the  streets  where  our  wealthiest  people  live 
he  would  find  that  in  very  many  homes  the 
proportion  of  money  devoted  to  the  service 
of  God  to  that  spent  on  self  and  home  would 
be  about  one  or  two  per  cent,  to  ninety-eight  or 
ninety-nine.  There  are  exceptions.  Mr. 
Carnegie's  proportions  were  recently  added  up 
and  stand  nine  times  as  much  of  his  income 
devoted  to  service  as  that  applied  to  self. 
Others  would  show  the  same  high  scale  of 
service.  But  how  true  it  is  that  in  the  great 
majority  of  families  the  church  and  the  phil- 
anthropies get  simply  the  leavings.  And  yet 
177 


178  The  Challenge 

Christ  put  the  service  first.  He  devoted  all 
His  life  and  income  to  service.  On  His  first 
apostles  and  disciples  He  made  the  same  de- 
mand. All  His  words — words  which  we  read 
in  church  every  Sunday — seem  to  imply  that 
His  followers  were  to  leave  all  and  follow 
Him.  Of  course,  in  our  present  civilization, 
which,  poor  as  it  is,  must  yet  be  carried  on, 
few  can  be  expected  to  leave  all  business  and 
follow  Christ  as  did  the  disciples  of  old.  But 
there  can  be  no  denial  that  Christ  expected 
every  disciple  in  all  ages  to  put  His  service 
first.  What  a  revival  of  religion  would  come, 
how  mightily  the  Church  would  rise  to  rule 
the  world !  The  trouble  with  many  of  our 
churches  is  that  only  the  leavings  go  to  the 
Church.  Food,  pleasures,  extravagant  clothes, 
luxurious  surroundings  get  the  great  part  of 
our  incomes,  and  what  is  left  over  goes  to 
Christ's  service.  There  are  many  Christians 
spending  a  thousand  dollars  a  year  on  clothes 
alone  who  subscribe  perhaps  twenty-five  dol- 
lars a  year  to  the  Church.  Christ's  work  is 
never  going  to  be  done  by  leavings.  It  is  not 
going  to  be  done  by  churches  whose  pastors 
and  officers  have  to  spend  much  of  their  ener- 
gies in  keeping  the  Church  alive.  What  we 
need  is  a  reconsecrated,  primitive  Christianity 


The  Leavings  for  Christ  179 

which  gave  all  it  had  to  the  Church,  conceiv- 
ing of  it  as  a  great,  powerful  instrument  to 
serve  the  world.  The  true  Church  is  the  group 
of  those  who,  as  nearly  as  is  possible  in  modern 
conditions,  leave  all  to  follow  Him,  which 
simply  means  that  they  make  all  else  secondary 
tc  the  service  of  Christ.  How  many  are  doing 
this? 

The  Christian  Church  has  always  been  a 
missionary  Church.  The  first  Christians  found 
Christ  such  a  joy  that  they  could  not  keep  Him 
to  themselves.  They  had  to  share  Him.  His 
presence  overflowed  their  hearts.  Indeed,  they 
would  not  have  counted  any  one  a  Christian 
who  was  not  eager  to  share  Christ  with  all  the 
world.  Even  before  Christ  died  they  made 
long  journeys  to  give  Him  to  other  men. 
After  His  death  they  started  in  all  directions 
with  the  glad  tidings.  They  went  to  Asia 
Minor,  Greece  and  Rome.  This  missionary 
spirit  pervaded  the  Church  for  years.  It  is 
what  kept  Christianity  alive  and  spread  it 
throughout  Europe.  They  gave  themselves 
and  their  substance.  To-day  it  would  look 
as  though  missions  were  getting  only  the  leav- 
ings. What  a  piece  of  news  this  is  that  has 
come  from  London,  that  with  all  the  wealth 
of  the  United  Kingdom  enough  money  cannot 


180  The  Challenge 

be  raised  to  avoid  shutting  up  the  Calcutta 
Mission,  one  of  the  most  strategic  stations  in 
the  East?  To  be  sure,  England  has  a  great 
war  on  her  hands.  But  there  is  money  enough 
for  dinners,  theatres,  cigars,  fine  clothes  and 
such  things.  The  letters  sent  out  by  the 
London  Missionary  Society  are  pitiable  in 
their  appeal.  But  our  own  missionary 
societies  here  in  prosperous  America  are  always 
appealing  for  funds  to  wipe  out  deficits.  And 
as  the  deficits  mount  up  enough  money  is 
squandered  by  Christians  in  one  night  to  wipe 
out  all  these  deficits.  The  extravagant  personal 
expenditures  by  Christians,  those  far  beyond 
comfort  and  rational  enjoyment,  would  triple 
the  receipts  of  missions.  But  no,  missions  can 
have  only  the  leavings.  And  yet  Christ  waits 
for  His  disciples  to  carry  His  glad  tidings  to  the 
vast  areas  of  the  undiscipled  East.  Suppose 
that  Christendom  should  once  get  possessed  of 
Christ  as  was  the  early  Church,  we  would  live 
upon  the  leavings  and  give  the  great  balances 
now  spent  on  pleasure  to  Christ's  kingdom. 
One  who  is  in  the  hotel  business  in  New  York 
gave  the  writer  an  estimate  of  how  much  was 
spent  on  the  annual  New  Year's  eve  dinners 
in  the  restaurants  of  the  great  city.  (It  has  be- 
come the  habit   for  thousands  to  dine  that 


The  Leavings  for  Christ  181 

night  at  the  restaurants  and  hotels  and  cham- 
pagne flows  Hke  water.)  The  figures  would 
save  the  Calcutta  Mission  and  pay  every  deficit 
of  every  missionary  organization  of  this  nation. 
Yet  many  of  these  diners  are  church  members. 
We  are  witnessing  Europe  in  the  throes  of 
mortal  anguish.  Nations  are  being  drained  of 
their  very  life  blood.  Millions  of  men  are 
trying  to  blow  millions  of  their  brothers  to 
pieces.  MilHons  of  women  are  being  widowed 
and  having  their  beloved  boys  killed  or  sub- 
jected to  unutterable  sufferings.  Millions  of 
children  are  being  orphaned  and  starved  to 
death.  Unspeakable  misery  and  poverty  is 
being  inflicted  on  millions  of  innocents.  And 
all  this  by  Christians  and  members  of  Christ's 
Church.  Why  is  it?  Because  for  fifty  years 
militarism  has  had  the  money  and  the  thought 
of  Europe,  while  Christ  has  had  but  the  leav- 
ings. Unless  we  are  to  read  the  gospels  with 
blindest  eyes  and  perverted  senses,  they  preach 
from  cover  to  cover  good-will.  Who,  in  his 
sane  moments,  ever  thinks  of  Christ  as  any- 
thing but  the  Prince  of  Peace,  the  Teacher  of 
Love?  What  can  any  one  get  out  of  the 
gospels  but  that  all  of  His  disciples  are  brothers, 
and  that  membership  in  His  kingdom  is  more 
than  citizenship  in  any  earthly  country?    But 


182  The  Challenge 

twenty  times  more  energy  has  been  put  upon 
encouraging  nationalism  than  in  preaching  the 
oneness  of  Christ's  followers.  Twenty  times 
more  energy  has  been  put  into  preparation 
for  war  than  upon  devising  Christian  methods 
for  settling  international  disputes.  And  as 
for  money — Christ  has  had  to  take  the  most 
meagre  leavings.  Millions  have  been  spent  on 
armies,  navies  and  armament,  on  instruments 
of  destruction,  to  hundreds  upon  educating  the 
peoples  in  good-will  or  establishing  Hague 
courts  and  other  Christian  means  and  methods. 
Had  Christ's  ways  had  the  thoughts  and 
money,  and  war's  ways  the  leavings,  we  should 
not  have  had  this  awful  mockery  of  Christ. 
But,  alas,  Christ  got  only  the  barest  leavings. 
(For  several  years  a  few  Christians  tried  to 
get  the  countries  of  Europe  to  set  aside  one 
per  cent,  of  their  war  expenditures  as  a  fund 
to  promote  good-will  and  the  establishment  of 
a  World  Court.  At  last  little  Denmark  did  do 
something.  But  even  here  Christ  got  only  the 
leavings — $i,ooo,  if  we  remember  rightly; 
perhaps  $2,000 — an  infinitesimal  part  of  the 
war  budget. ) 

And  is  Christ  to  get  only  the  leavings  in 
America  ?  It  looks  so.  It  did  not  for  a  while. 
When  the  war  first  broke  out  for  a  few  months 


The  Leavings  for  Christ  183 

our  nation  did  talk  a  little  of  what  it  might 
do  to  reinstate  stricken  Europe.  It  talked  of 
conferences  of  neutral  nations.  It  talked  of 
working  out  plans  for  permanent  peace  to 
offer  Europe.  It  looked  as  though  Christ  was 
going  to  have  the  enthusiasm  of  this  great 
nation.  It  looked  as  though  this  nation  was 
going  to  take  the  greatest  opportunity  that  has 
ever  come  to  any  nation  in  history  to  do,  as  a 
nation,  a  great,  superb,  Christian  act.  The 
President  talked  of  it,  and  strove  to  keep  the 
nation  out  of  the  war  that  it  might  render  this 
service.  Everywhere  the  people  were  talking 
of  it.  The  President  even  said  it  was  no  time 
to  urge  increased  armament.  We  were  rather 
to  be  thinking  of  the  service  we  could  render 
humanity.  It  really  looked  as  though  Christ 
was  to  get  our  enthusiasm,  our  thought,  our 
money,  rather  than  the  militarists.  And  now 
all  this  has  changed.  As  in  Europe  before  the 
war,  armament  is  to  get  the  substance,  Christ 
the  leavings.  Have  not  our  readers  noticed 
how  all  talk  of  what  this  nation  could  do  for 
Europe  after  the  war  has  ceased  since  the  cry 
for  "  preparedness  "  has  grown  ?  Have  they 
not  seen  one  journal  after  another  drop  all 
constructive  planning  for  methods  of  perma- 
nent peace  and  join  the  cry  for  vast  navies  and 


184  The  Challenge 

armies?  Have  they  not  noticed  how  even 
ministers,  who  a  little  while  ago  were  talking 
of  the  Messianic  opportunity  of  this  nation 
to  go  to  Europe  after  this  war  was  over  and 
plead  disarmament,  good-will  as  best  defence, 
courts  for  nations  as  we  now  have  them  for 
States  and  people,  have  now  ceased  preaching 
this  beautiful  gospel — the  gospel  Christ 
preached — and  begun  preaching  guns?  And 
does  it  not  look  as  if  our  President  himself 
had  turned  about?  And  has  it  not  even  come 
to  pass  that  those  who  are  still  trying  to  put 
Christ's  claim  first  for  the  nation,  and  trying 
to  turn  its  mind  to  think  of  what  it  can  do 
for  Europe,  are  ridiculed?  Alas,  it  looks  as 
though  here,  as  in  Europe,  Christ,  the  Christ 
who  thought  not  of  protection  but  of  service, 
was  to  get  only  the  leavings.  And  the  pity  of 
it !  For  we  can  no  longer  go  to  the  nations  of 
Europe  as  we  could  a  year  ago  and  say,  "  Try 
our  way,"  For  an  armed  nation  cannot  preach 
disarmament,  and  a  nation  turning  to  Caesar 
cannot  go  and  preach  Christ.  How  aptly  Lord 
Rosebery  put  the  whole  thing  the  other  day: 
"  It  is  a  disheartening  prospect  that  the  United 
States,  so  remote  from  the  European  conflict, 
should  voluntarily  in  these  days  take  up  the 
burden  which,  after  the  war,  will  be  found  to 
have  broken,  or  almost  broken,  our  backs." 


XVIII 

AMERICA    AND    THE    REHABILITA- 
TION   OF    EUROPE 

THE  war  drags  on  its  weary  way.  But 
there  are  signs  of  its  becoming  a  spent 
force.  The  papers  of  the  last  few 
months  have  had  rumours  almost  daily  of 
ominous  uprisings  of  the  people  in  Germany. 
Such  rumours  doubtless  have  behind  them 
much  more  fact  than  finds  expression.  Recent 
travellers  in  Germany  bear  testimony  to  these 
facts.  The  recent  note  from  Berlin  dealing 
with  submarine  warfare  significantly  begins 
with  a  confession  of  Germany's  desire  for 
peace.  Many  statesmen  are  even  intimating 
that  this  peace  paragraph  was  inserted  as  a 
direct  bid  for  President  Wilson's  mediation. 
This  view  gains  farther  credence  from  the 
fact  that  the  Pope's  letter  to  the  President, 
with  its  plea  for  efforts  from  the  United 
States  for  peace,  followed  close  upon  the  Ger- 
man note.  While  there  are  no  signs  given 
out  by  the  British  or  French  governments  there 
185 


186  The  Challenge 

are  frequent  expressions  from  many  sources 
that  the  British  and  French  people  are  getting 
tired  of  the  seemingly  fruitless  fighting.  The 
British  government  is  no  longer  talking  of 
crushing  Germany.  They  are  now  content 
simply  to  gain  such  a  measure  of  victory  that 
they  can  demand  the  restoration  of  Belgium, 
the  evacuation  of  Northern  France,  and  the 
overthrow  of  the  Potsdam  militarism — a  con- 
summation many  Germans  wish  as  well  as  the 
rest  of  Europe.  The  terrible  destruction  of 
life  at  Verdun  impressed  both  the  German  and 
the  French  people.  The  war  may  drag  on 
for  several  months  yet,  it  may  end  suddenly. 
No  one  knows ;  but  there  is  a  growing  feeling 
that  it  will  not  last  so  long  as  some  have  been 
prophesying. 

Whenever  it  may  end,  the  question  is — ^What 
part  will  America  play  in  rehabilitating  Europe 
after  it  is  over?  Of  course,  there  are  many 
who  have  no  interest  in  doing  anything  for 
Europe,  and  who  are  urging  that  America 
should  be  devoting  all  her  energies  to  fortify- 
ing herself  against  the  nations  now  at  war,  who 
will  be  so  tempted  by  our  wealth  that  they 
will  not  hesitate  to  inaugurate  predatory  move- 
ments against  us  as  soon  as  they  recover 
breath.     This  is  the  attitude  being  taken  by 


America  and  the  Rehabilitation  of  Europe    187 

the  various  leaders  of  the  defence  movements, 
and  was  well  voiced  by  the  gentleman  who 
recently  in  the  New  York  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce moved  to  lay  upon  the  table  a  resolution 
to  take  steps  toward  constructive  peace  meas- 
ures after  the  war,  on  the  ground  that  such 
things  belonged  to  the  millennium,  and  that 
the  chief  business  of  the  United  States  was  to 
look  out  for  itself.  But  that  is  not  a  Chris- 
tian point  of  view,  and  those  who  are  truly 
Christian  are  anxious  to  have  the  United  States 
become  the  saviour  of  impoverished,  distracted, 
disrupted,  groaning  Europe,  after  the  war  is 
over.  The  more  Christian  a  man  is,  the  more 
his  mind  is  brooding  upon  this  thing.  He 
realizes  that  the  greatest  opportunity  his 
country  has  ever  had  will  then  present  itself, 
and  there  are  many  such  real  Christians  left 
in  the  land. 

The  welcome  the  United  States  will  have 
from  Europe  when  she  offers  herself  for  this 
great  task  will  largely  depend  upon  what  she 
does  before  the  war  closes.  There  is  no  deny- 
ing the  fact  that,  at  just  this  time,  there  is 
something  of  a  feeling  both  of  scorn  and  of 
bitterness  in  all  the  European  nations  toward 
our  country.  It  is  not  due  to  the  fact  that  we 
are  selling  munitions,   because  it  is  just  as 


188  The  Challenge 

prevalent  in  England  as  in  Germany.  It  is 
not  due  to  the  fact  that  we  did  not  join  the 
Allies  in  the  defence  of  Belgium,  for  it  is  as 
strong  in  Germany  as  in  England.  It  is  as 
strong  in  France  as  in  either  England  or  Ger- 
many, and  France  has  never  severely  criticized 
our  failure  to  protest  against  the  invasion  of 
Belgium.  All  of  these  things  enter  into  it  a 
little,  but  they  are  not  the  real  cause,  nor  the 
things  mentioned  when  one  talks  with  Euro- 
peans. 

The  real  source  of  this  feeling  is  that  we  are 
not  realizing  very  seriously  the  awful  suffering 
they  are  undergoing;  are  not  expressing  any 
very  great  concern  over  their  annihilation;  are 
not  showing  any  very  marked  sympathy;  and 
not  sharing  in  any  measurable  degree  the  great 
sacrifices  thousands  of  brave  men  are  making 
in  Europe.  The  above  words  are  almost  tran- 
scripts of  the  letters  and  messages  that  are 
coming  from  Europe  and  of  the  words  we 
have  heard  from  the  lips  of  Europeans  them- 
selves. 

There  is  thus  a  very  prevalent  feeling  in 
Europe  that  we  are  taking  the  war  very  lightly ; 
our  merchants  taking  the  opportunity  to  grow 
rich;  our  munition  manufacturers  taking  the 
opportunity     to     get     great     contracts;     our 


America  and  the  Rehabilitation  of  Europe    189 

militarists  taking  the  opportunity  to  put 
through  their  long  cherished  programs; 
our  politicians  taking  the  opportunity  to 
create  that  cheap  nationalism  which  always 
serves  the  demagogue's  purpose;  but  none 
of  us  forgetting  self  as  millions  of  brave 
men  in  Europe  to-day  are  doing  and  making 
sacrifices  with  them  for  the  sorrowing  world. 
Their  contempt  is  due  to  the  fact  that  we  are 
piling  up  great  wealth,  prosperous  beyond 
measure — a  prosperity  coming  to  us  because 
of  their  discomfiture — and  keeping  our  pros- 
perity to  ourselves.  We  even  leave  the  feed- 
ing of  Belgium  to  the  nations  that  can  hardly 
feed  themselves.  This  feeling  is  perfectly 
natural  when  one  remembers  that  New  Zea- 
land, which  is  bearing  her  share  in  the  support 
of  the  British  cause,  has  given  $1.25  per  capita 
for  the  feeding  of  the  Belgians  to  our  little 
seven  cents  per  capita. 

The  very  first  thing  for  the  United  States 
to  do  then  is  to  remove  this  feeling  from  the 
hearts  of  her  European  brothers,  by  showing 
some  of  that  sacrificial  spirit  they  are  showing, 
and  as  Christ  did  for  us,  "  enter  into  their 
sufferings."  We  are  pleased  beyond  measure 
to  learn  that  the  Federal  Council  of  the 
Churches  of  Christ  in  America  has  recently 


190  The  Challenge 

issued  an  appeal  to  the  Christians  of  America 
— an  appeal  signed  by  its  national  committee, 
representing  practically  all  the  Protestant  de- 
nominations— calling  upon  them  to  make,  be- 
fore the  winter  comes,  a  great  sacrificial  offer- 
ing through  the  various  relief  agencies  that 
shall  not  only  relieve  millions  of  starving 
women  and  children,  but  shall  convince  Europe 
that  we,  in  our  prosperity,  desire  to  enter  into 
their  dire  necessity. 

Nothing  will  do  so  much  to  win  for  us  the 
somewhat  dampened  affection  of  Europe  as 
some  such  great  sacrificial  act,  nothing  can  so 
pave  the  way  for  our  offering  our  services 
when  the  great  war  stops.  Those  who  have 
carefully  read  the  reports  of  Drs.  C.  S.  Mac- 
farland,  John  R.  Mott  and  Benjamin  F.  Battin 
upon  their  experiences  in  Europe  have  noted 
that  they  continually  recur  to  this  fact,  that  it 
was  the  relief  that  we  had  rendered  Europe 
that  immediately  awakened  kindly  response 
from  every  man  they  met.  It  is  what  we  al- 
ready have  done  for  Belgium,  Poland,  Serbia, 
Albania,  Armenia,  that  has  tempered  the  bit- 
terness. Could  we  now  increase  these  gifts 
twentyf old ;  could  we  all  give  to  the  point  that 
Europe  felt  we  were  "  touching  the  sacrificial 
point  even  slightly,"  a  wave  of  good-will,  of 


America  and  the  Rehabilitation  of  Europe    191 

gratitude,  of  admiration  would  sweep  over 
Europe  for  us,  that  would  make  us  welcome 
in  the  reconstruction  of  the  new  order  over 
there;  that  would  make  the  churches  of  Europe 
feel  that  the  churches  of  America  really  bore 
them  upon  their  hearts. 


XIX 
MAN'S  RELATIONSHIP  TO  GOD 

IN  these  days  when  men  are  thinking  of 
the  reconstruction  of  the  world  after  the 
great  war  the  teachings  of  Jesus  are  being 
examined  as  never  before.  It  is  our  purpose 
to  review  these  teachings,  especially  as  they 
bear  upon  the  relationships  of  the  soul.  What 
has  Jesus  to  say  upon  the  relation  of  man  to 
God;  of  man  to  his  neighbour;  of  man  to 
humanity  at  large? 

What  is  the  relation  of  man  to  God? 
Many  are  saying  at  this  time  that  he  has  no 
relation  to  God  at  all.  The  war  has  bred  a 
great  revival  of  agnosticism,  which  is  reflected 
in  the  press  and  literature  of  every  land.  Per- 
haps Professor  Haeckel  has  summed  this  point 
of  view  up  better  than  any  one  else  in  a  recent 
article  in  which  he  says,  in  substance,  that  one 
thing  this  war  has  done  is  to  banish  forever  the 
nonsense  of  the  good,  heavenly  Father,  who 
watches  over  His  children,  cares  for  them  and 
preserves  them  from  all  evil.  On  the  other* 
192 


Man's  Relationship  to  God  193 

hand,  if  the  war  has  produced  a  great  crop  of 
unbelievers,  it  has  at  the  same  time  driven 
thousands  of  men  who  previously  had  thought 
little  of  God  to  seek  in  Him  the  only  unfailing 
refuge  in  the  uncertainties  and  welter  of  the 
present  world.  As  one  such  has  expressed  it : 
"  I  find  no  safety  or  certitude  in  human  insti- 
tutions. Governments,  world  tribunals,  inter- 
national organizations,  socialism,  the  Church  it- 
self seemingly  has  no  power  to  guarantee 
security  against  the  sudden  plunging  of  the 
most  happy  and  peaceful  peoples  into  misery 
and  chaos.  There  is  no  security  in  this  world. 
I  am  driven  to  find  it  in  God." 

When  one  turns  to  the  words  of  Jesus  one 
finds  that  it  is  just  the  truth  expressed  by  this 
second  writer  that  He  is  continually  emphasiz- 
ing. Again  and  again  He  is  saying  to  His  fol- 
lowers that  in  this  world  they  shall  have  tribu- 
lations; they  shall  be  persecuted,  mocked  and 
beaten;  but  they  are  not  to  fear.  "  Fear  not, 
for  I  have  overcome  the  world."  "  Fear  not, 
for  it  is  not  the  will  of  your  Father  which  is 
in  heaven  that  one  of  these  little  ones  shall 
perish."  Yes;  there  is  little  security  in  this 
world.  Human  institutions  ofifer  no  security. 
They  are  just  as  liable  to  collapse  as  volcanoes 
are  to  erupt,  or  earthquakes  to  shake  the  earth, 


194  The  Challenge 

or  floods  to  sweep  the  plains.  Wars,  pesti- 
lences, famines  are  sure  to  come.  But  these  are 
only  passing  things,  cruel  for  the  moment,  in 
an  eternal  order.  You  belong  to  that  eternal 
order.  Rise  up  into  that.  God  is  there.  Be- 
come a  citizen  of  this  kingdom  of  heaven. 
Then  you  will  not  escape  the  calamities  of  this 
world,  but  you  will  meet  them  as  a  citizen  of 
another  world,  a  world  above  them  and  be- 
yond them,  a  world  in  which  they  are  but  in- 
cidents, days  in  an  unending  time.  Find 
God,  repose  in  Him,  make  Him  your  refuge, 
then  you  shall  endure  in  undisturbed  peace  all 
this  world  may  send;  endure  them  as  He  en- 
dures, endure  them  with  Him.  He  is  the  only 
unfailing  refuge. 

What  is  to  be  the  nature  of  this  relationship 
between  man  and  God,  when  the  soul  shall  thus 
seek  Him?  The  Old  Testament  makes  this 
relationship  one  of  a  subject  to  a  king.  The 
Roman  Catholic  Church,  creating  its  theology 
under  an  imperialistic  political  order,  conceives 
of  the  relationship  in  much  the  same  way. 
John  Calvin  never  quite  got  rid  of  this  con- 
ception. (One  cannot  help  wondering  some- 
times how  different  the  great  theologies  might 
have  been  from  what  they  are  had  their  authors 
lived  in  a  democratic  rather  than  a  monarchic 


Man's  Relationship  to  God  195 

world.)  When  one  turns  to  the  teachings  of 
Jesus  all  this  has  changed.  There  the  relation- 
ship is  always  that  of  a  child  to  a  father; 
a  soul  to  its  shepherd;  a  friend  to  a  friend. 
Jesus  always  speaks  of  God  as  the  Father. 
He  always  speaks  of  His  followers  as  children 
of  the  Father  or  asks  them  to  become  such. 
His  most  beautiful  parable,  told  purely  to  ex- 
press this  relationship,  pictures  a  father  stand- 
ing with  open  arms  of  love  toward  his  son. 
He  tells  of  the  shepherd  who  seeks  one  lost 
lamb;  He  says  the  Father  even  knows  His  sheep 
by  name,  so  intimate  is  the  relationship,  and 
no  one  can  pluck  them  out  of  His  hand.  He 
said  to  men  who  supped  with  Him  and  leaned 
upon  His  breast  that  their  relationship  to  the 
Father  was  to  be  as  intimate  as  their  relation- 
ship with  Him.  The  Father  was  as  He  was — 
and  they  all  knew  what  He  was  toward  them. 
Henceforth  they  were  not  even  to  be  servants 
— they  were  to  be  friends  of  God.  It  is  all 
nearness,  intimacy,  comradeship.  It  is  not 
strange  that  some  souls  who  dwell  much  upon 
the  holiness  and  absoluteness  of  God  are  afraid 
of  Jesus'  teaching  about  God — afraid  that  it 
takes  reverence  and  awe  out  of  man.  But 
there  it  stands,  and  Jesus  has  said  it  finally  and 
forever. 


196  The  Challenge 

Growing  out  of  this  intimacy  of  the  soul 
with  God,  Jesus  teaches  that  there  can  be  the 
most  intimate  conversation  between  the  Father 
and  His  child.  The  Father  will  speak  to  the 
child;  the  child  can  speak  to  the  Father.  This 
act  Jesus  calls  prayer.  And  it  is  just  as  natural, 
considering  this  relationship,  as  conversation 
of  a  child  with  its  mother.  (It  was  not 
irreverence  that  used  to  lead  Theodore  Parker 
to  pray  to  "  Our  Father-Mother  God."  It 
was  this  image  of  child  and  mother  in  his 
mind.)  To  Jesus  it  was  just  as  natural  to 
speak  to  His  father  as  it  was  for  the  child  He 
once  took  upon  His  knees  to  speak  to  Him  while 
He  stroked  its  curls.  He  is  always  trying  to 
present  prayer  in  this  light  to  His  followers. 
It  was  the  most  natural  thing  in  the  world.  It 
required  no  times  and  seasons.  One  can  speak 
to  God  at  any  time.  God  will  speak  to  us  any 
time  we  will  stop  and  listen.  And  this  act  of 
prayer  He  considers  as  chief  means  of 
establishing  this  intimacy  of  the  soul  with  God. 
Agnosticism  never  thrives  among  a  praying 
people. 

The  great  aim  of  life  according  to  Jesus,  as 
far  as  personal  religion  is  concerned,  is  to 
achieve  oneness  with  the  Father,  and  to  attain, 
as  nearly  as  possible,  the  Father's  chatacter. 


Man's  Relationship  to  God  197 

His  exhortations  are  "  Be  ye  perfect,  as  your 
Father  in  heaven  is  perfect."  His  aspirations 
for  His  followers  are  that  they  may  be  one 
with  the  Father  as  He  is  one.  We  are  to  be 
merciful  as  God  is  merciful.  We  are  to  for- 
give because  God  forgives.  The  peacemakers 
are  children  of  God.  He,  the  incarnation  of 
God,  demands  service  of  His  followers  because 
it  makes  them,  like  Him,  Godlike.  Jesus  no- 
where makes  this  achievement  of  oneness,  this 
attainment  of  perfection,  easy.  But  it  is  the 
chief  end  of  life  so  far  as  the  soul  in  its 
relation  to  God  is  concerned.  And  all  help  is 
offered — prayer.  Himself,  the  Holy  Spirit. 
This  teaching  of  Jesus  cannot  be  too  much 
emphasized,  for  it  is  the  one  thing  that  dif- 
ferentiates His  religion  from  all  the  others. 
An  eminent  Chinaman,  once  Ambassador  to 
the  United  States,  pointed  this  out.  He  said 
the  one  thing  that  distinguished  Christianity 
from  all  other  religions  was  its  demand  of  holi- 
ness in  the  individual  and  the  love  of  the 
enemy.  He  thought  neither  of  these  was 
possible  to  man;  therefore  he  could  not  become 
a  Christian.  Confucianism  was  adjusted  to 
human  nature,  and  he  preferred  it.  But  he 
was  right  in  his  diagnosis  of  Christianity.    Sal- 


198  The  Challenge 

vation,  according  to  Jesus,  is  oneness  with  God 
and  the  striving  for  His  perfection. 

Finally,  Jesus  recognized  that  man  was  weak 
and  had  certain  primal  impulses  in  his  soul, 
which  would  turn  him  from  this  pursuit  to  the 
quest  of  his  own  ends  and  to  the  gratification 
of  the  baser  instincts  of  his  nature.  This 
turning  from  God,  this  seeking  the  world,  this 
opposition  to  the  will  of  God  He  called  sin. 
But  nothing  stands  out  more  gloriously  in  all 
His  words  than  the  forgiveness  that  is  in  the 
heart  of  God.  God  so  loves  His  erring  child 
that,  although  the  child  may  forget  God,  God 
never  forgets  him.  He  yearns  for  him,  follows 
him  and  finds  him,  suffers  for  him,  gives  His 
own  Son  for  him,  heals  him,  goes  forth  to  meet 
him  the  moment  he  comes  to  himself  and  turns 
again  home.  It  is  the  most  beautiful  thing 
this  world  has  ever  known;  the  most  gracious 
word  it  has  ever  heard,  this  of  the  forgiving 
love  of  God.  So,  no  matter  how  far  the  man 
has  gone,  no  matter  how  low  he  has  fallen, 
no  matter  how  he  has  sinned  against  the 
Father,  he  can  find  forgiveness,  be  given  an- 
other chance,  be  restored  to  his  sweet  relation- 
ships with  the  Father,  find  peace  again,  simply 
by  repenting  and  seeking  again  oneness  and 
perfection. 


XX 

MAN'S  RELATIONSHIP  TO  MAN 

IN  our  last  chapter  we  studied  the  words  of 
Jesus  to  see  what  He  had  to  say  about  the 
relationship  of  man  to  God.  In  this  chap- 
ter we  want  to  examine  His  words  to  see  what 
He  teaches  concerning  the  relationship  of  man 
to  man.  For  while  half  the  Gospel  deals  with 
personal  religion,  the  other  half  is  concerned 
with  practical  religion.  In  every  sermon  Jesus 
always  talks  both  about  the  soul  and  God,  and 
the  soul  in  its  human  relationships. 

The  first  thing  to  notice  as  we  come  to  this 
study  is  that  Jesus  begins  by  putting  the  re- 
lationships of  men  to  each  other  on  an  entirely 
different  basis  than  any  before  taught  in  the 
world.  The  relationship  in  the  older,  ethnic 
religions  is  inevitably  on  a  utilitarian  basis. 
In  Confucianism  we  are  to  treat  our  fellow- 
men  justly  and  with  kindness  because  in  the 
long  run  it  pays.  It  may  pay  in  a  very  high 
sense,  but  still  it  pays.  Even  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment the  writers  never  got  far  away  from  the 
199 


200  The  Challenge 

tribal  conception  of  human  relationships.  The 
member  of  your  tribe  should  be  treated  as  your 
brother.  But  not  so  the  Philistine,  the  Baby- 
Ionian,  the  Assyrian.  In  Mohammedanism 
there  is  no  relation  of  man  to  man  outside  of 
the  Holy  Faith.  In  the  Greek  religions  the 
element  of  pity  for  one's  fellow  rises  here  and 
there,  but  it  is  always  purely  pity  for  an  un- 
fortunate creature.  The  Greek  would  help  a 
poor  fellow  much  as  one  of  us  would  stop  to 
take  a  thorn  out  of  the  foot  of  a  dog.  As  usual 
Jesus  transcends  all  other  motives  and  bases 
His  teachings  regarding  human  relationships 
on  a  high,  sublime,  spiritual  doctrine  that  revo- 
lutionizes our  whole  conception  of  society. 
Here  is  His  first  and  fundamental  word :  Every 
man  is  a  child  of  God.  He  is  my  brother  and 
your  brother.  I  am  in  his  heart,  and  so  there  is 
something  of  Christ  in  every  human  being. 
"  Inasmuch  as  ye  do  it  unto  one  of  these  ye 
do  it  unto  me."  You  are  all  of  one  family, 
one  blood,  one  origin,  one  destiny.  You  should 
act  toward  every  man  as  you  would  act  toward 
me — or  as  I  would  act  toward  him.  Remem- 
ber, too,  that  you  are  serving  an  immortal  soul 
whenever  you  serve  any  man — not  a  mere 
animal.  It  is  impossible  to  overstate  this,  be- 
cause it  cannot  be  put  in  stronger  terms  than 


Man's  Relationship  to  Man  201 

Jesus  used,  or  than  Paul  and  John  used  in 
their  emphasizing  it. 

Basing  His  teachings  on  this  high  conception 
of  manhood,  what  has  Jesus  to  say  to  His 
disciples  about  their  relationship  to  their  fel- 
low-men? His  teachings  are  very  explicit. 
First  of  all,  we  are  to  conceive  of  ourselves  as 
in  this  world  primarily  to  help  the  other  man, 
and  of  every  man  we  meet  as  some  one  to  be 
helped.  This  is  a  very  lofty  conception  of 
our  place  in  this  world,  but  one  cannot  escape 
it  if  he  believes  what  Jesus  Christ  taught  in 
Galilee  is  to  be  the  rule  of  life  in  all  ages.  We 
are  not  here  to  get  things  from  the  other  man, 
and  we  are  not  here  to  get  our  own  rights.  We 
are  here  to  contribute  something  to  the  lives 
of  other  men,  and  have  not  arrived  at  full 
Christian  discipleship  until  we  think  of  our  life 
in  the  terms  of  mission  and  every  man  we  meet 
our  charge.  Suppose  we  began  to  apply  that 
in  our  modern  life:  It  would  mean  that  the 
great  industrial  lord  who  employed  thousands 
in  his  great  mines  or  factories  would  not  be 
thinking  first  of  what  he  could  get  out  of  them 
in  work,  but  what  he  could  do  for  them.  It 
would  mean  that  the  owners  of  shops  and 
stores  would  think  of  them  as  their  parishes. 
It  would  mean  that  the  school  teacher  would 


202  The  Challenge 

be  chiefly  concerned  in  rearing  her  pupils  into 
worthy  men  and  women.  It  would  mean  that 
instead  of  running  around  asking  how  we 
can  protect  ourselves  from  the  immigrant,  the 
foreigner,  we  should  be  concerned,  as  Christ 
was,  in  how  we  might  shepherd  him.  The 
teachings  of  Jesus  have  far-reaching  implica- 
tions when  one  really  discovers  them.  That  is 
the  reason  we  are  so  afraid  of  them. 

The  next  word  that  is  forever  on  Jesus'  lips, 
based  on  this  fundamental  concept  of  man  as 
God's  child  and  of  every  man  our  brother,  is 
that  service  is  to  be  the  highest  honour  in  the 
Christian  fellowship.  This  is  very  wonderful 
and  beautiful.  Everywhere  else  office,  high 
rank,  kingship,  lordship,  wealth,  success,  hav- 
ing many  rendering  service  to  one  is  the  high- 
est honour,  the  coveted  place,  the  niche  of  fame. 
It  is  not  so  with  Jesus.  Not  only  does  He 
directly  teach  that  service  is  the  badge  of  great- 
ness; not  only  does  He  tell  exquisite  stories 
to  enforce  it;  but  He  goes  out  of  His  way  to 
impress  it  forever  upon  the  world  by  an  act 
of  lowliest  service  possible.  Think  of  the  Lord 
of  Life  at  whose  name  every  knee  should  bow 
and  every  tongue  should  speak,  taking  a  bason 
of  water  and  going  around  washing  His  fol- 
lowers' feet — most  menial  service  Jesus  could 


Man's  Relationship  to  Man  203 

think  of !  But  it  has  settled  forever  who  is 
greatest  in  the  company  of  the  true  followers 
of  Jesus.  He  is  greatest  who  serves  and  who 
spends  his  life  in  ministry. 

But  Jesus  goes  farther  still  and  imposes 
something  harder  than  any  of  these  things 
upon  His  followers.  Men  must  live  together 
in  this  world,  and,  being  human,  there  will 
be  friction.  Interests  will  clash;  misunder- 
standings will  arise;  evil  men  will  inflict  injury 
upon  the  good;  the  Christian  will  be  sinned 
against  as  much  as  will  be  the  man  of  the  world. 
It  is  impossible  to  live  in  our  world  and  not  be 
wronged — sometimes  cruelly  wronged  and  at- 
tacked. Jesus  knew  this  well.  Had  He  not 
continually  experienced  it?  And  to  it  He 
directed  His  attention,  for  this  attitude  toward 
our  enemies,  toward  those  who  have  wronged 
us,  is  one  of  the  real  problems  of  life.  It  is 
always  with  us.  Jesus  met  it  by  flying  straight 
into  the  face  of  all  the  philosophy  of  the 
world.  The  world  has  always  said :  "  Get 
even  with  the  enemy.  Revenge  yourself  upon 
him."  Jesus  turns  to  His  disciples  and  says, 
in  substance:  The  aim  of  your  Christian  life 
is  to  be  perfect  as  God  is  perfect.  Therefore 
you  must  do  what  God  does.  He  forgives, 
therefore  you  must  forgive  to  be  Godlike;  He 


204  The  Challenge 

forgives  you,  His  enemy,  therefore  you  should 
forgive  your  enemies;  He  seeks  peace,  there- 
fore you  must  be  a  peacemaker  in  the  world 
if  you  would  be  His  children;  He  is  merciful, 
therefore  you  should  be  merciful;  He  seeks  the 
salvation  of  all  men,  therefore  you  must  seek 
the  salvation  of  the  enemy,  not  your  own 
revenge;  your  enemy  is  God's  child,  although 
he  is  mean  and  evil,  and  God  loves  him,  there- 
fore your  thought  should  be,  not  how  to  wrong 
him  or  hurt  him  in  return,  but  how  can  you 
please  God  by  winning  this  erring  child  back 
to  him. 

Now  this  is  very  radical, — the  world  has  al- 
ways said  fantastical,  impracticable,  impossible 
doctrine, — but  it  is  the  very  core  of  Christ's 
teachings,  and  if  we  abandon  it  we  might  just 
as  well  leave  Him  out  of  account  for  good, 
take  His  name  off  our  churches,  out  of  our 
books  and  off  our  lips.  But,  curiously  enough, 
much  to  the  confusion  and  dumfounding  of 
the  so-called  practical  men,  it  always  works 
when  it  is  tried,  proving  itself  to  be  the 
most  practical  teaching  in  the  world.  For 
is  not  the  saving  of  a  man's  soul  the  most 
practical  thing  in  the  world?  And  does  it 
not  almost  always  follow  that  the  result  of 
your  sincerely  forgiving  a  man  saves  him  to 


Man's  Relationship  to  Man  205 

his  higher  self?  This  is  probably  one  of  the 
reasons  Jesus  talked  so  much  about  it  to  the 
apostles.  It  was  a  method  of  redemption,  the 
great  opportunity  to  save.  Forgiveness  is  also 
the  great  healing  angel  of  the  social  order. 
Revenge  disrupts  it;  forgiveness  constructs  it, 
makes  for  harmony  and  peace.  But  most  of 
all,  perhaps,  Jesus  was  thinking  of  the  effect 
upon  the  life  of  him  who  practised  it.  It  re- 
acted on  him  and  made  him  beautiful,  great 
in  graciousness,  benevolent,  merciful,  as  is  God 
Himself. 

We  cannot  leave  this  subject  without  noting 
that  Jesus  recognized  that  even  with  the  high 
motive  given  at  the  beginning,  these  command- 
ments were  hard,  almost  impossible  to  unas- 
sisted human  nature,  incapable  of  efficient 
exercise  in  a  heart  untouched  with  a  divine 
quality  of  love.  So  He  takes  every  opportunity 
to  say  to  His  followers :  The  way  to  practise 
these  rules  of  the  Christian  life  easily  and 
naturally  is  to  get  love  in  your  heart  for  every 
human  soul.  When  you  love  men  it  is  easy  to 
sacrifice  for  them,  easy  to  forgive.  How  easy 
it  is  to  serve  your  little  boy,  to  forgive  him  his 
affront!  Now  get  this  heart  of  good-will,  and 
it  will  be  easy  to  serve  and  forgive  all  others. 
And  that  means  that  we  are  simply  to  get  the 


206  The  Challenge 

mind  and  heart  of  Christ.  It  is  possible  to 
us  because  it  has  been  possible  to  so  many. 
All  along  the  way  of  history  there  have  been 
these  beautiful  souls  whose  hearts  have  glowed 
as  did  Christ's  with  universal  benevolence — 
St.  John,  St.  Francis,  St.  Elizabeth,  King  Al- 
fred, John  Woolman,  Elizabeth  Fry,  Lord 
Shaftesbury,  Peter  Cooper,  Whittier,  Josephine 
Shaw  Lowell,  Phillips  Brooks,  innumerable 
others — candles  of  the  Lord.  It  is  for  us  all, 
said  Jesus,  to  get  that  overflowing  heart  of 
love  that  He  had  for  everybody,  saint  and 
sinner,  if  we  would  serve,  sacrifice  and  forgive 
easily. 


XXI 

MAN'S  RELATIONSHIP  TO  THE 
WORLD 

IN  our  two  previous  studies  of  the  words 
of  Jesus  on  human  relationships  we  have 
examined  His  teachings  concerning  man 
and  God,  and  man  and  man.  In  this  chapter  let 
us  see  what  Jesus  has  to  say  about  man's  rela- 
tion to  the  great  world  in  which  he  lives.  For 
every  word  of  Jesus  implies,  if  it  does  not 
explicitly  state,  that  every  man  has  a  respon- 
sibility toward  the  whole  world.  Indeed,  we 
might  begin  right  here  and  say  that  Christ's 
fundamental  teaching  on  this  great  subject  is 
that  the  Christian  is  a  citizen  of  all  the  world. 
There  is  nothing  provincial  about  Christianity. 
Mohammedanism  may  be  an  Arabian  or  Turk- 
ish faith.  Buddhism  an  Indian  faith,  Con- 
fucianism a  Chinese  faith,  and  Judaism  a 
Jewish  faith;  but  Christianity  was  never  con- 
nected with  any  tribal  name  or  national 
boundary.  Jesus  gave  it  out  as  a  world  re- 
ligion, and  He  took  pains  to  impress  upon  His 
207 


208  The  Challenge 

disciples  that  when  they  became  Christians  they 
became  citizens  of  His  world-wide,  universal 
kingdom  and  that  all  men  became  their 
brothers,  all  men  became  their  wards,  and  they 
were  to  place  their  citizenship  in  His  kingdom 
above  all  national  ties,  and  were  to  be  more 
closely  bound  to  the  members  of  His  kingdom 
than  to  the  members  of  their  own  country. 

It  is  true  that  we  have  never  realized  this  in 
practice,  and  that  is  why  we  have  wars  between 
nations  made  up  of  men  who  are  professed 
disciples  of  the  same  Lord,  children  of  the 
same  father,  brothers  of  one  another,  members 
of  the  same  kingdom.  The  present  war  is 
really  a  family  quarrel,  and  could  not  be  did 
not  Christians  put  their  allegiance  to  kings 
and  kaisers,  countries  and  states  above  their 
allegiance  to  Jesus  Christ  and  His  kingdom. 
Did  we  make  even  a  pretence  of  taking  Jesus 
at  His  word  it  would  be  much  harder  to  shoot 
a  Christian  of  another  country  than  a  non- 
Christian  of  our  own.  And  in  either  case  we 
would  be  shooting  one  of  Christ's  brothers, 
which  is  what  war  means,  if  we  believe  Christ. 

Let  us  see  how  explicit  Christ  was  on  this 
point,  for  we  have  some  very  direct  statements. 
When  some  of  those  who  first  sought  citizen- 
ship in  His  kingdom  showed  tendencies  of 


Man's  Relationship  to  the  World       209 

manifesting  a  divided  allegiance  He  uttered 
words  which  to  some  have  seemed  the  harsh- 
est words  He  ever  uttered,  but  which  are 
strong  because  they  were  meant  to  settle  for- 
ever the  question  of  where  the  Christian's 
chief  allegiance  lay.  He  said  that  allegiance  to 
Him  must  even  come  before  that  to  father  and 
mother,  brother  and  sister,  home  and  kindred, 
to  say  nothing  of  the  nation.  When  the  test 
came  the  Christian  would  desert  everything 
else  in  the  world  for  Christ.  It  might  even  be 
that  for  the  sake  of  peace  in  the  kingdom  there 
would  have  to  be  strife  between  brothers  and 
sisters,  but  His  kingdom  came  first.  What  else 
can  the  passages  in  Matt.  10:37  rnean  but 
this?  What  would  happen  in  Europe  if  after 
this  war  German,  English,  French  and  Russian 
Christians  got  together  and,  in  the  light  of 
Christ's  words,  should  say :  "  We  are  Chris- 
tians first,  before  we  are  Germans,  English, 
Frenchmen  and  Russians.  Our  chief  alle- 
giance is  to  Jesus  Christ.  We  are  all  citizens 
of  His  kingdom;  our  chief  interest  is  that  king- 
dom. We  are  brothers  in  Him.  All  this 
slaughtering  and  killing  of  each  other,  all  this 
hatred  and  cursing  of  each  other,  is  denial  of 
this  higher  allegiance  for  lower  ones.  Chris- 
tians are  supposed  to  love  one  another,  and  the 


210  The  Challenge 

fact  that  we  live  under  different  governments 
and  on  different  spots  of  land  should  make  no 
difference  in  this  love.  The  strongest  ties 
should  be  the  Christian  tie.  All  Christians  are 
of  our  own  household.  All  other  men  are 
potential  Christians  and  should  be  the  object 
of  our  redemptive  effort  rather  than  our  mur- 
dering guns.  Let  us  say  to  our  ambitious  war 
lords,  our  covetous  merchant  princes,  our  proud 
noblemen,  "  Henceforth  we  Christians  will 
not  bear  arms  against  each  other,  for  we  are 
Christ's  before  we  are  yours,  and  the  success 
and  peace  of  Christ's  kingdom  means  more  to 
us  than  any  national  glory  or  achievement." 
What  would  happen  ?  we  ask.  Nothing  except 
that  Christians  would  at  last  be  doing  just 
what  Christ  asked  them  to  do,  would  be  at 
last  meeting  the  one  test  He  explicitly  gave: 
"  By  this  shall  all  men  know  that  ye  are  my 
disciples,  that  ye  have  love  one  toward  an- 
other." 

Again,  Jesus  endeavoured  to  impress  this 
same  truth  upon  His  disciples  by  enlarging  their 
idea  of  neighbourhood.  The  Jewish  thought 
of  the  neighbour  was  one  who  was  of  the  same 
sect.  The  modern  world  has  got  beyond  this, 
although  not  very  far,  and  thinks  of  all  those  of 
his  own  country  as  having  claims  upon  him. 


Man's  Relationship  to  the  World       211 

To  a  German,  a  German  is  a  neighbour ;  to  an 
American,  an  American.  But  Jesus  was  so 
insistent  upon  the  truth  that  the  bounds  of 
neighbourhood  were  humanity  alone  that  He 
went  out  of  His  way  to  tell  one  of  the  most 
exquisite  stories  the  world  has  ever  known,  a 
story  which,  with  the  parable  of  the  Prodigal 
Son,  contains  almost  the  whole  of  religion  in 
both  its  manward  and  its  Godward  sides.  The 
parable  of  the  Good  Samaritan  is  simply  the 
final  truth  that  neighbourhood  is  world-wide, 
that  every  man  who  has  needs,  no  matter 
whether  he  be  in  Mexico,  Japan,  Belgium  or 
Armenia,  is  our  neighbour — just  as  much  our 
neighbour  as  the  sick  man  next  door.  Applied 
for  a  moment  to  the  nation,  it  means  that  our 
task  in  Mexico  is  to  be  a  national  Good  Samari- 
tan, whatever  we  do  there  being  done,  not  to 
avenge  insults,  not  to  protect  American  citizens, 
but  to  bind  up  the  wounds  of  the  unfortunate 
country  and  set  it  upon  its  feet.  It  means  that 
the  United  States  when  it  goes  into  Belgium, 
Poland  and  Armenia  with  millions  of  healing 
dollars  is  Christian — infinitely  more  Christian 
than  when  she  is  discussing  her  rights  and  her 
honour. 

Once  again:  That  this  idea  of  the  world 
being  the  Christian's   fatherland   lay   funda- 


212  The  Challenge 

mental  in  Christ's  mind  appears  in  His 
frequent  demands  upon  His  followers  that  they 
consider  everybody  in  all  the  world  as  their 
charge,  every  man  as  the  object  of  redemp- 
tion. Remember  how  explicit  Christ  was  in 
this  matter;  how  He  directly  commanded  His 
disciples  to  go  into  all  the  world  preaching  His 
gospel  to  every  creature.  Remember  also  how 
this  implication  ran  through  His  general  utter- 
ances. When  the  woman  anoints  Him,  out  of 
her  beautiful  devotion,  He  exclaims  that  the 
exquisite  deed  should  be  known  forever  in  all 
the  world.  He  tells  His  disciples  that  He  will 
be  with  them  always  wherever  they  may  go 
in  the  world.  He  sees  Satan  falling  as  light- 
ning out  of  the  heavens.  If  He  be  lifted  up — 
that  is,  made  known — He  will  draw  all  the 
world  unto  Him.  And  almost  the  most  perfect 
exhibition  of  real  Christianity  the  Church  has 
yet  displayed  has  been  her  foreign  missionary 
work.  For  here  she  has  caught  the  real  vision 
of  Christianity,  found  the  real  heart  of  Christ. 
Does  any  one  suppose  there  would  be  any  more 
wars  in  Europe  or  America  if  we  should  sud- 
denly put  the  able  secretaries  of  the  great 
foreign  mission  societies  of  each  country  at  the 
head  of  the  governments?  Believe  us,  the 
world  would  hear  no  more  talk  of  war. 


XXII 
MAN,  THE  BUILDER 

THE  first  thing  man  began  to  do,  when  he 
appeared  upon  this  earth,  after  securing 
some  food,  was  to  build  something. 
He  is  the  great  builder.  St.  Paul  used  this 
as  a  designation  for  his  work.  It  is  true  of 
every  period  of  man's  life. 

The  first  thing  he  built  was  a  house.  It  was 
a  poor  sort  of  house,  but  it  broke  the  winds  and 
sheltered  him  from  the  storms.  It  was  square, 
and  built  of  clay,  or  mud,  or  stones,  or  logs. 
But  it  was  prototype  of  every  house  that  has 
since  been  built.  The  palace  follows  the 
lines  of  this  hut. 

The  next  thing  man  built  was  a  boat.  It 
was  a  crude  affair,  a  dug-out  or  skins  over  a 
frame  of  boughs.  But  it  extended  his  world 
and  he  took  a  new  step  in  civilization  with  the 
building  of  this  boat.  This  primitive  boat  was 
the  prototype  of  the  present  ocean  steamer. 
.They  are  built  on  the  same  lines  and  principles. 

Then  man  began  building  roads.  With  the 
213 


214  The  Challenge 

first  road  built,  civilization  took  a  long  leap 
forward.  Civilization  is  largely  a  process  of 
extending  boundaries.  With  roads  the 
boundaries  were  pushed  far  back,  Man 
passed  out  of  pure  provincialism.  The  ex- 
change of  goods  and  thoughts  took  place.  All 
races  were  enriched  by  this  exchange  with  their 
neighbours.  Later  books  and  objects  of  art 
were  carried  over  these  roads  and  the  enrich- 
ment was  hastened.  It  was  a  momentous  day 
when  man  built  his  first  road. 

Probably  the  next  thing  he  built  was  a 
church  of  some  sort.  In  Egypt,  Greece, 
Rome  and  England  there  still  remain  evidences 
of  temples  built  in  the  beginnings  of  man's 
existence.  In  every  town  in  Christendom  to- 
day there  is  at  least  one  church  which  man 
has  built.  This  was  a  great  day  for  man, 
the  day  he  built  a  temple.  For  it  linked  him 
to  a  higher  world,  put  aspiration  and  immor- 
tality into  his  nature,  and  with  this  vision  of 
God  came  a  new  vision  of  his  fellow-man  as 
brother.  His  growth  went  forward  by  leaps 
and  bounds,  when  he  thus  put  himself  in  touch 
with  God  in  his  temple.  And  right  beside  the 
temple,  in  later  years,  he  always  built  a  school- 
house  or  college  where  God's  truth  could  be 


Man,  the  Builder  215 

taught.  To-day  man  never  neglects  to  build 
these  two  things  wherever  he  may  settle. 

But  above  and  beyond  these  physical  and 
necessary  things,  these  things  built  out  of 
wood  and  stone,  houses,  roads,  boats,  temples, 
schools,  man  soon  began  building  vaster,  loftier 
structures,  temples  not  built  with  hands  but 
of  the  mind  and  of  the  soul.  Perhaps  the  first 
of  these  was  the  nation.  Humanity  has  always 
been  a  company  of  nation  builders.  The  na- 
tion assumed  various  forms,  although  it  was, 
probably,  always  the  same  at  the  beginning. 
But  it  was  a  great  day  when  man  began  to 
build  states,  nations  and  empires.  At  first  a 
structure  reared  on  absolutism,  the  nation  being 
only  a  king  with  his  dependents;  later  a  king 
with  a  constitution;  later  still  a  democracy 
where  the  king  or  president,  as  he  is  always 
called,  becomes  a  servant  of  the  people,  rather 
than  a  ruler;  but  always  a  structure  where 
men  are  co-operating  toward  a  common  end. 
The  significance  of  this  building  of  nations 
lies  in  the  fact  that  man  is  now  living  for  the 
community  rather  than  for  himself. 

Early  in  his  career  man  began  rearing  other 
of  these  invisible  temples  of  the  soul.  Among 
the  greatest  of  these  were  the  eternal  poems 


216  The  Challenge 

that  have  come  down  to  us.  David,  Homer, 
Virgil,  Dante,  Goethe,  Shakespeare — they  col- 
lected all  the  aspirations,  emotions,  griefs,  vic- 
tories, ideals,  imaginings  of  the  world  and  out 
of  them  reared  such  structures  as  the  Psalms, 
the  Odyssey,  the  Aeneid,  the  Divine  Comedy, 
Faust  and  Hamlet.  It  will  be  remembered 
how  beautifully  Longfellow,  in  his  introduction 
to  his  translation  of  Dante,  compares  the 
Divine  Comedy  to  a  majestic  temple.  In  the 
same  way  the  philosopher  collected  the 
thoughts  and  imaginings  of  man,  and  Plato 
builds  the  Phaedro;  Kant  his  Metaphysics; 
Lotze  his  Microcosmus;  and  Berkeley  his 
Idealism.  The  theologians  collect  the  thoughts 
of  God  men  have  thought,  the  experiences  of 
God  men  have  felt,  the  revelations  of  God  in 
the  world,  and  build  up  great  structures  of 
theology,  and  we  have  Augustine  building  his 
"  City  of  God " ;  Thomas  Aquinas  building 
the  "  Summa  Theologise";  John  Calvin  rear- 
ing the  huge  structure  of  "The  Institutes"; 
Jonathan  Edwards  piling  up  a  structure  of 
closely  cemented  masonry,  "  The  Freedom  of 
the  Will." 

But  with  the  coming  of  Christianity  into  the 
world,  man's  building  assumed  a  new  and 
higher  direction  than  any  we  have  mentioned 


Man,  the  Builder  217 

yet.  The  first  thing  Christ  did  was  to  gather 
about  Him  a  dozen  men  and  say  to  them  that 
He  wanted  them  to  be  builders  with  Him. 
There  were  two  structures  that  they,  working 
with  Him,  the  master  builder,  were  to  build — 
character  in  men  and  the  kingdom  of  God  in  the 
world.  And  they  began  rearing  these  two  struc- 
tures at  once.  And  they  have  never  stopped. 
Every  real  Christian  has  been  a  builder  of 
character  in  himself  and  in  his  brethren,  and 
also  a  builder  of  the  kingdom  of  God  in  the 
world.  And  it  is  a  high  and  holy  task.  The 
man  who  has  built  a  structure  of  supremely 
noble  character  is  a  master  builder,  ranking 
with  him  who  built  the  great  cathedrals.  It 
is  an  ever  present  opportunity.  Every  young 
man  should  begin  at  the  age  of  reason  and  try 
to  build  a  firm  and  beauteous  character  for 
himself  and  should  strive  to  build  character 
in  other  men.  This  is  the  glory  of  teaching, 
whether  in  day  school  or  Sunday  school,  and 
likewise  of  preaching — that  the  teacher  and 
preacher  are  engaged  in  the  task  of  building 
characters.  We  wonder  how  any  one  can  ever 
refuse  an  opportunity  to  help  build  a  new  char- 
acter in  the  world.  Of  course,  it  is  the 
supreme  calling  of  parents. 

We  should  here  like  to  call  attention  to  the 


218  The  Challenge 

wonderful  opportunity  this  particular  time 
presents  for  the  building  of  the  kingdom.  The 
work  of  missions  has  been  seriously  injured 
by  the  great  war.  Missions  are  simply  the 
building  of  the  kingdom  of  God  in  non- 
Christian  lands.  Let  some  of  our  readers  who 
are  anxious  to  help  Christ  build  His  kingdom 
begin  at  once  to  study  the  whole  mission  situa- 
tion. Learn  all  about  Roberts  College  and  the 
American  Girls'  College  in  Turkey,  the  Prot- 
estant College  in  Syria,  the  Christian  College  in 
China,  Doshisha  in  Japan,  and  all  the  others, 
so  you  may  be  ready,  the  moment  the  war 
stops,  to  help  rear  this  part  of  the  kingdom  to 
proportions  never  before  dreamed  of.  Let 
others  study  the  mission  stations  in  these 
countries  and  in  India,  so  the  building  may 
proceed  with  an  energy  it  has  never  known 
before. 

Christian  civilization  has  nearly  fallen  to 
ruins  in  Europe.  Europe  will  never  be  content 
with  the  old,  fallen,  structures.  A  new  inter- 
national order  has  got  to  be  reared.  Never  has 
there  been  such  a  call  for  builders  of  the  King- 
dom of  God  to  supplant  the  false,  unstable 
kingdom  of  the  world  as  there  will  be  the 
moment  this  war  stops.  We  wish  every  young 
Christian  man  and  woman  in  America  would 


Man,  the  Builder  219 

begin  at  once  seriously  preparing  to  have  some 
part  in  this  building.  The  building  of  a  fair, 
beautiful,  Christian  world  structure  that  should 
house  only  justice  and  good-will.  Already 
the  prophetic  souls  are  drawing  plans.  Leave 
the  question  of  "  preparedness "  to  the  old 
men — it  is  an  old  men's  movement,  and  is 
mostly  being  fostered  by  old  men,  men  who 
live  in  the  old  and  passing  order — and  throw 
in  your  lot  with  those  who  are  eager  to  rear 
Christ's  kingdom  in  all  the  world.  There  is 
the  League  of  Peace  Movement,  for  instance, 
of  which  Mr.  Taft  is  the  leader,  which  aims 
at  a  group  of  nations  which  shall  league  them- 
selves together  to  settle  all  disputes  by  judicial 
processes.  Learn  of  that.  There  is  the  World 
Court  Movement,  which  many  eminent  states- 
men are  leading,  which  aims  at  establishing 
a  World  Court  at  the  close  of  this  war, 
where  nations  may  take  their  disputes  for  ad- 
judication. Learn  of  that.  There  is  the 
World  Alliance  of  the  Churches,  which  is  en- 
deavouring to  unite  all  the  churches  of  the 
world  in  a  movement  to  establish  international 
good-will  to  supplant  the  present  international 
suspicions,  jealousies  and  strifes — a  rapidly 
growing  movement.  Learn  of  that.  Throw  in 
your  life  with  these  great  movements  and  have 


220  The  Challenge 

some  part  in  building  the  new  "  Civitas  Dei," 
—the  "  City  of  God." 

Once  more,  there  is  a  great  movement  afoot 
for  Christian  unity.  Everywhere  men  are 
striving  to  build  a  new  church,  which  shall 
combine  all  the  sects  in  one  glorious  temple 
where  Christ's  prayers  that  they  might  all  be 
one  shall  be  fulfilled.  It  is  going  to  be  one 
of  the  great  tasks  of  the  twentieth  century. 
Learn  that  and  have  some  part  in  the  rearing 
of  this  divine  and  holy  structure. 


XXIII 
TWO  PHILOSOPHIES  OF  LIFE 

NO  one  can  listen  to  the  voice  of  the  age 
as  it  is  expressing  itself  in  literature, 
the  drama,  the  press,  even  in  the  pulpit, 
and  especially  in  men's  living,  without  soon 
becoming  aware  that  two  sharply  contrasting 
philosophies  of  life  are  clamouring  for  ac- 
ceptance to-day, ,  one  the  world's,  the  other 
Christ's. 

The  very  attempt  that  so  many  good  men, 
including  ministers,  are  so  frantically  making 
to  reconcile  them — always  a  vain  task,  for  they 
are  forever  irreconcilable — is  only  another 
index  of  the  fact  that  the  crisis  is  acute,  that 
the  world  faces  either  such  a  reconciliation  or 
an  out  and  out  choice  of  Christ.  But  to  the 
average  man  the  straight  choice  of  Christ's 
philosophy  of  life  with  all  it  implies  is  almost 
as  much  to  be  dreaded  as  the  frank  choice  of 
the  world's.  We  have  even  had  clergymen 
warning  the  people  against  it.  But  the  dif- 
ference is  too  wide  to  be  bridged — as  it  always 

221 


222  The  Challenge 

has  been.  The  world's  view  and  Christ's  afQ 
antipodal,  antithetical,  diametrically  opposed, 
as  unrelated  and  irreconcilable  as  God  and 
Mammon.  And  the  greatest  danger  to  the 
Church  to-day  is  that  she  may  forget  this. 
There  are  signs. 

Let  us  look  at  some  of  these  contrasting 
views.  The  philosophy  of  the  world  is  to  get. 
That  man  or  nation  is  greatest  which  can  get 
most,  and  the  chief  business  in  life  for  either 
of  them  is  getting.  A  man  is  here  to  turn 
all  the  streams  into  his  own  heart,  whether  of 
wealth,  learning  or  power.  The  successful 
man,  in  the  average  magazine,  is  he  who  has 
made  the  world  yield  most  to  him,  who  has 
used  the  world  to  his  own  advantage.  The 
business  of  the  nation  is  to  get  all  she  can 
from  other  nations,  and  that  nation  is  greatest 
which  can  get  the  most.  The  nation  should  be 
thinking  of  its  own  enrichment  first. 

Now  Christ's  philosophy  of  life  is  opposed 
to  all  this,  at  every  point.  The  word 
get  never  occurs  in  the  Gospels.  That  life 
was  a  place  to  get  things  would  sound 
as  foreign  in  the  New  Testament  as  Nietz- 
sche's Ten  Commandments.  The  word  forever 
on  Christ's  lips  is  that  life  is  a  place  to  give. 
He  who  gives  most,  contributes  most  to  life, 


Two  Philosophies  of  Life  223 

blesses  humanity  most,  spends  most,  loves 
most,  sacrifices  most,  is  the  great  and  success- 
ful man — the  Christian.  Whenever  any  one 
asked  Christ  how  to  pick  out  a  Christian  He 
said :  "  By  this  shall  men  know  ye  are  my 
disciples,  that  you  have  love  one  toward  an- 
other." The  world  says  the  man  who  gets 
the  most  is  greatest;  Jesus  says  the  man  who 
gives  the  most  is  greatest.  Whatever  else  one 
may  believe  or  have,  or  do,  he  is  not  Christian 
unless  his  philosophy  of  life  is  giving,  not 
getting;  contribution,  not  acquisition;  serving, 
not  being  served.  And  a  nation  which  makes 
any  pretence  of  being  Christian  must  take 
this  same  philosophy  of  life — that  its  great- 
ness depends  upon  its  service  to  the  rest  of 
the  world. 

The  world  is  always  looking  for  the  evil  in 
both  men  and  nations.  Its  attitude  is  one  of 
suspicion.  It  lives  in  constant  expectation  of 
finding  evil  in  men.  It  sees  the  evil  rather  than 
the  good,  when  both  exist.  Expecting  evil,  evil 
comes.  Looking  for  evil  it  finds  it.  And  men, 
knowing  that  other  men  are  expecting  evil 
from  them,  are  led  to  be  more  evil.  Suspicion 
is  the  philosophy  of  the  world.  It  is  equally 
true  when  one  gets  among  the  nations,  and  per- 
haps this  world  philosophy  of  life — suspicion 


224  The  Challenge 

— has  had  as  much  to  do  with  bringing  on  the 
European  war  as  have  militarism  and  greed. 
Every  nation  must  live  in  suspicion  of  other 
nations.  Germany  has  been  suspicious  of 
England,  and  England  of  Germany.  This 
mutual  suspicion  has  been  the  atmosphere  of 
these  two  nations.  And  it  is  growing  here. 
We  recently  attended  a  "  preparedness  "  meet- 
ing where,  before  the  evening  was  over,  we 
were  urged  as  a  nation  to  arm  to  the  teeth  on 
suspicion  of  Germany,  England  and  Japan. 
All  three  countries  were  our  enemies,  and  the 
speakers  urged  suspicion  of  them  all.  Now 
this  is  all  utterly  foreign  to  the  sweet  atmos- 
phere of  the  Gospels.  As  one  walks  up  and 
down  Galilee  with  Jesus,  one  finds  Him  looking 
into  the  face  of  every  soul  He  meets  seeking 
the  good  there.  And  he  finds  it  in  Zaccheus, 
in  the  woman  bathing  His  feet — in  one  after 
another.  Never  does  He  look  for  evil,  always 
for  the  good.  He  seemed  to  believe  that  the 
good  was  there  to  be  found,  nurtured,  per- 
fected. Surely  He  would  never  say,  "  Think 
evil  of  all  men."  Surely  the  going  about  in 
suspicion  of  all  men,  looking  at  all  men  with 
distrustful  eyes,  is  unthinkable  of  Jesus  Christ. 
So,  too,  does  that  nation  throw  aside  a  Chris- 
tian attitude  toward  the  world  and  toward 


Two  Philosophies  of  Life  225 

the  future  when  it  begins  to  cultivate  sus- 
picions of  other  nations,  sees  only  the  evil  in 
England,  France,  Japan  or  Germany,  lives  in 
eternal  mistrust  of  them.  It  is  the  world's 
way,  not  Christ's. 

The  world's  philosophy  of  life  is  that  a  man 
shall  be  measured  by  what  he  does.  He  may 
live  a  good  and  kindly  life  for  years,  and  then 
if  under  the  stress  of  severe  temptation  he  com- 
mits one  sin — in  the  world's  judgment  that 
places  him  forever.  He  may  have  many  rather 
praiseworthy  and  beautiful  qualities,  but  one 
weakness  yielded  to  brings  him  under  total 
condemnation.  And  if  a  good  man  is  judged 
for  one  evil  deed,  a  bad  man  is  sainted  because 
of  one  good  deed.  The  world's  whole  idea  of 
judgment  is  based  on  doing.  In  the  same  way 
character  is  measured  by  achievement,  success 
by  accomplishment.  It  is  very  reassuring  when 
one  turns  to  the  Gospels  to  find  that  Jesus  has 
a  totally  different  standard  of  judgment. 
When  one  listens  to  Him  it  is  all,  not  what  has 
one  done,  but  what  one  is.  This  man  has 
sinned.  Yes,  but  what  is  he  in  his  heart, 
vicious  or  good?  This  man  did  an  evil  thing 
in  a  moment  of  great  temptation — a  crime  per- 
haps. Yes;  but  is  he  evil  all  through,  all  the 
rest  of  the  time?    Let  us  take  that  into  con- 


226  The  Challenge 

sideration.  So  Jesus  would  have  us  look  at 
the  man's  ideals,  his  aspirations,  his  longings, 
his  ambitions,  his  general  tendencies.  If  these 
are  not  evil  they  must  be  taken  into  considera- 
tion in  judging  men.  So  success  from  Jesus' 
point  of  view,  as  witness  in  the  parables  of 
the  Talents  and  the  Pounds,  is  not  achieve- 
ment, so  much  as  faithfulness.  He  who  tries 
and  fails  may  be  as  good  a  man  as  he  who 
succeeds  and  accomplishes.  What  one  is, 
rather  than  what  one  does  or  says,  is  Jesus' 
estimate  of  manhood. 

The  world's  philosophy  of  life  is  revenge. 
"  An  eye  for  an  eye,  a  tooth  for  a  tooth," 
would  pretty  well  sum  up  the  universally  ac- 
cepted philosophy  of  the  world,  and  of  a 
considerable  portion  of  Christ's  Church,  except 
that  the  rule  is  not  quite  strong  enough.  For 
generally  revenge  insists  on  more  than  a  quid 
pro  quo.  It  wants  a  bigger  eye  and  a  bigger 
tooth  in  return.  If  a  man  strikes  you,  strike 
him  back,  only  harder.  If  he  steals,  take  away 
from  him  more  than  he  stole,  or  put  him  in 
jail  as  punishment.  Whenever  a  man  com- 
mits a  crime  the  world's  first  thought  is  punish- 
ment. Throw  him  into  prison.  Yes,  perhaps 
this  is  necessary.  But  for  what  purpose? 
Punishment,  revenge,  to  get  even  with  him, 


Two  Philosophies  of  Life  227 

says  society.  The  world  holds  the  same 
philosophy  for  the  nation.  If  a  nation  wrongs 
us,  let  us  fly  to  war  at  once,  is  the  universal 
instinct  and  philosophy.  Retaliation,  repara- 
tion, defence  of  honour,  revenge,  chastisement 
— these  are  the  only  words  the  world  knows 
when  it  comes  to  international  affairs.  When 
one  turns  to  the  gospels  what  a  new  world  he 
enters!  Here  revenge  is  compared  to  murder. 
Here  the  world's  great  slogan  of  "  revenge  " — 
the  motive  of  most  of  our  dramas — never  oc- 
curs. Here  there  is  nothing  about  punishment 
as  a  law  for  humanity,  here  there  is  nothing 
about  reparation.  No  it  is  all  gone  and  in  its 
place,  on  every  page,  running  through  Jesus' 
words  like  a  great  undertone,  shining  out  of 
His  life  as  light  colouring  everything  He  said 
and  did  is  the  thought  "  redemption  of  the 
enemy,  forgiveness  of  the  enemy,  love  of  the 
enemy,  desire  to  save  the  enemy."  This  is  the 
philosophy  of  Christ.  The  world  laughs  at  it, 
the  Church  only  half  believes  it,  the  preachers 
preach  it  in  generalities,  but  balk  at  applying  it 
when  the  hard  event  comes,  but  it  is  there  and 
you  can  no  more  take  it  out  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment than  you  can  take  Hamlet  out  of  "  Ham- 
let." Take  it  out  and  nothing  is  left.  Not 
even  Jesus  is  left,  for  it  is  His  one  distinctive 


228  The  Challenge 

teaching,  His  one  original  contribution  to  the 
philosophy  of  human  relationship.  When  the 
disciples  would  call  down  fire  He  would  have 
none  of  it.    He  had  come  to  save. 

Now  any  one  who  believes  Jesus  Christ  and 
really  wants  to  follow  not  afar  off  must  get 
completely  rid  of  this  whole  idea  of  revenge, 
reparation,  punishment  as  mere  punishment, 
and  live  by  Christ's  principle.  Even  his 
thought  of  his  enemy  must  be  to  save  him. 
His  thought  of  punishment  must  be  always 
redemption.  His  thought  of  prisons  must  be 
reformatory.  His  thought  of  one  who  wrongs 
him  must  be  forgiveness  where  it  is  possible, 
because  through  forgiveness  one  may  save. 
And  some  day  we  shall  be  big  enough  to  see 
that  no  nation  can  lay  any  claim  to  be  con- 
sidered Christian  which  cannot  see  that  she 
too  must  put  the  salvation  of  other  nations 
above  retaliation  or  revenge.  Which  is  the 
Christian  policy  toward  Mexico;  to  invade  her 
for  punishment,  retaliation  or  revenge,  or  to 
preserve  as  a  nation  the  helpful,  patient  course 
Christ  pursued  toward  His  enemies,  and  per- 
haps save  the  unfortunate  nation  to  itself? 
So  too  in  all  our  relationships  with  the  stricken 
nations  of  Europe  at  this  time.  What  we  can 
do  for  them  will  be  the  first  thought  rather; 


Two  Philosophies  of  Life  229 

than  reparation,  revenge  or  upholding  national 
honour.  (Where  does  any  one  find  Jesus  talk- 
ing about  defending  his  honour?) 

The  world  says  force,  might,  iron,  is  the 
basis  of  civilization.  The  strong  man  is  he 
who  has  the  biggest  muscles,  or  added  force, 
by  which  he  can  awe  men.  The  best  defence 
for  either  man  or  nation  is  impregnable  sur- 
roundings; vast,  threatening,  awe-inspiring 
might;  the  surest  civilization  that  which  has 
most  force  behind  it.  When  one  turns  to  the 
Gospel  the  whole  idea  of  force  is  strangely 
absent.  Jesus  seemingly  would  have  nothing 
to  do  with  it.  He  would  not  even  defend  Him- 
self; he  would  not  let  Peter  interpose  force  be- 
tween the  marauders  and  Himself.  He  does 
not  ever  talk  about  it.  It  does  not  seem  to  have 
ever  been  any  part  of  His  world.  His  thought, 
His  word,  His  acts,  all  speak  another  language, 
namely,  the  love  of  others,  good-will  toward 
men,  service,  mercy  and  justice. 

These  are  a  man's  chief  defence.  Ultimately 
they  may  be  a  nation's  best  defence.  Jesus 
never  spoke  on  this  particular  phase  of  politi- 
cal righteousness.  But,  while  it  is  not  fair  to 
say  on  what  evidence  we  possess  that  Jesus 
would  counsel  nations  to  refuse  to  use  force 
against  malicious  attack  or  invasion,  one  must 


230  The  Challenge 

say,  in  the  light  of  His  whole  life  and  teaching, 
that  He  would  insist  that  eager,  enthusiastic, 
devoted  service  of  other  nations,  with  serene 
trust  in  them,  love  and  good-will  for  all,  would 
be  securest  foundation  of  the  nation,  most 
impregnable  defence.  Suppose  our  Govern- 
ment at  the  close  of  this  war  should  set  aside 
$2,000,000,000  (two  billion  dollars)  and  give 
it  to  the  depleted  nations  to  reinstate  them- 
selves, does  any  one  really  suppose  that  any 
nation  in  Europe  would  ever  think  of  waging 
war  with  us?  Be  sure  that  the  people  would 
not  permit  it,  even  if  governments  were  un- 
human. 

Once  more :  the  philosophy  of  the  world  is 
protection.  The  world  is  all  the  time  con- 
cerned with  shielding  itself.  The  thousands 
who  hold  it  are  always  asking:  How  can  we 
protect  ourselves  from  the  unclean  people,  the 
ignorant  people,  these  swarms  of  foreigners 
who  are  coming  into  our  beautiful  old  towns 
and  cities,  from  the  evil  women,  from  the 
negroes,  from  the  criminal  who  threatens  our 
lives  and  properties?  And  the  world  acts  on 
its  philosophies.  It  segregates  the  evil  women 
and  the  negroes;  it  keeps  the  Italians  and 
Slavs  in  colonies  in  the  midst  of  the  city;  it 
builds  high  walls  around  its  houses,  gets  away 


Two  Philosophies  of  Life  231 

from  the  crowd;  it  puts  the  criminal  behind 
iron  bars;  it  passes  laws  against  immigration. 
When  one  turns  to  the  gospels  it  is  never 
protection.  When  Jesus  faced  any  of  the 
so-called  threatening  classes  of  society  His  only 
thought  was  opportunity.  What  a  chance  to 
render  service,  for  here  are  those  who  need 
it  most.  Jesus  seemed  never  to  be  caring  for 
Himself,  to  be  thinking  of  His  rights.  He  had 
no  doctrine  of  rights,  only  of  duties.  He  was 
not  here  to  protect  Himself,  He  was  here  on  a 
mission.  One  of  the  most  characteristic  words 
about  Him  is  His  standing  over  against  the 
crowd — the  great  unclean,  unfortunate,  dis- 
agreeable mob — and  weeping  because  He  could 
not  serve  and  save  them  all.  Mission,  oppor- 
tunity, service,  duty,  love — never  protection — 
was  Christ's  philosophy  of  life.  "  We  who  are 
Christians  have  the  mind  of  Christ,"  said  the 
chief  apostle. 


XXIV 
THE  NEEiD  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

WE  have  been  hearing  much  during  the 
last  fifty  years  of  forces  other  than 
the  Christian  Gospel  which  were  to 
elevate  and  redeem  mankind.  Indeed,  some 
have  gone  so  far  as  to  tell  us  that  the  Gospel 
was  outgrown  and  that  these  other  forces  were 
to  supplant  it:  character,  the  development  of 
the  higher  qualities  of  being,  the  banishment 
of  injustice,  strife,  crime,  social  sin,  the  estab- 
lishing of  brotherhood  as  the  rule  of  life — all 
these  were  to  be  secured  by  these  new  panaceas 
— these  new  gospels  suited  for  an  age  that 
had  outgrown  Christianity. 

First  came  the  prophets  of  science.  From 
Huxley's  "  Lay  Sermons "  of  1870  to 
Haeckel's  last  fulmination  we  have  been  hear- 
ing that  science  was  to  be  the  saving  force,  the 
Messiah,  the  eliminator  of  all  evil,  poverty, 
disease,  crime  and  sin  and  the  harbinger  of 
good-will  among  all  peoples.  "  Let  us  teach 
the  children  science  instead  of  the  old  outworn 
fables  of  the  Bible." 


Need  of  the  Gospel  233 

Then  came  the  prophets  of  education  and 
from  Herbert  Spencer's  famous  essay  on  this 
subject  down  to  the  last  commencement  ad- 
dress we  have  been  told  that  education  was  the 
panacea  for  all  ills.  Educate  the  youth  suf- 
ficiently and  they  will  flee  all  evil.  Educate  the 
people  as  to  what  is  best  and  they  will  choose 
the  best.  Show  the  world  how  much  more 
beautiful  virtue  is  than  vice,  unselfishness  than 
selfishness,  co-operation  than  competition, 
brotherhood  than  strife,  and  they  will  choose 
the  good. 

Then  came  the  prophets  of  culture.  We 
have  been  hearing  the  word  a  good  deal  lately. 
For  the  last  twenty-five  years  it  has  been  on 
everybody's  lips.  We  have  been  hearing  that 
all  that  was  necessary  to  bring  in  the  millen- 
nium was  the  diffusion  of  art,  literature,  music, 
philosophy.  The  mastery  of  the  world  by 
supermen  is  to  be  the  religion  that  shall  create 
the  strong  and  virtuous  nation.  Not  meek 
men,  not  suffering  Christs,  but  giant  men, 
commanding  men  and  nature  out  of  universal 
knowledge,  together  with  perfect  efficiency. 

With  all  these  came  the  prophets  of  eco- 
nomic reform.  If  we  could  get  an  eight-hour 
day,  one  day's  rest  in  seven,  a  good  wage, 


234i  The  Challenge 

plenty  to  eat  and  model  tenements,  the  whole 
problem  of  morality  would  be  solved,  we 
would  be  over  the  threshold  of  the  millen- 
nium, the  redemption  of  mankind  into  the 
kingdom  of  God  would  be  at  hand  and  religion 
as  ordinarily  conceived  from  the  point  of  the 
Church  would  be  outgrown  and  superfluous. 

Thus,  during  the  last  twenty-five  years,  have 
we  been  offered  these  four  gospels  as  a  suf- 
ficient religion,  a  substitute  for  Christianity, 
a  panacea  for  all  evils,  a  potency  requiring  no 
supernatural  sanction,  but  sufficient  to  redeem 
the  world.  And  what  a  failure  it  has  all  proven 
in  the  light  of  the  past  two  years!  There 
never  was  so  much  science  in  all  previous  cen- 
turies put  together  as  in  the  last  half  century. 
Every  school  child  grew  up  on  it,  his  primers 
being  fairly  tales  of  science.  It  has  driven  the 
classics  out  of  our  colleges,  and  has  bid  fair 
even  to  become  the  text-books  of  our  Sunday 
schools.  It  is  in  every  magazine,  and  on  every 
table  in  cheap  editions.  Yet  somehow  it  has 
not  worked  great  improvement  in  the  morals 
of  mankind,  and  it  is  just  now  being  prostituted 
largely  to  inventing  machines  and  chemicals 
wherewith  to  slaughter  men.  It  is  even  some- 
thing of  a  question  whether  many  of  our  great 
inventions  have  not  done  us  more  harm  than 


Need  of  the  Gospel  235 

good.  Airships  so  far  have  been  used  chiefly 
for  dropping  bombs  on  playgrounds  and 
nurseries. 

Education  has  never  reached  such  a  height 
as  in  the  last  century.  Everybody  goes  to 
school,  and  everybody  who  wants  to  goes  to 
college.  Education  has  been  the  chief  con- 
cern of  government  in  Germany,  next  to  the 
army.  In  America  the  educator  is  the  prophet. 
The  president  of  a  college  stands  next  to 
the  President  of  the  nation.  We  are  even 
turning  to  the  colleges  for  our  nation's  rulers. 
And  yet  somehow  education  does  not  seem  to 
have  had  much  power  to  stop  this  awful  col- 
lapse of  civilization  we  are  witnessing.  The 
men  who  did  most  to  bring  it  on  had  been 
trained  in  the  greatest  universities  in  the  world. 
Our  own  cheap  politicians,  grafters,  corrupt 
legislators  are  educated  men.  Yes,  education 
seems  to  have  belied  its  promise.  When  they 
were  running  some  plays  in  New  York  to  show 
young  men  the  horrible  physical  consequences 
of  vice,  a  wise  physician  remarked  to  us: 
"  Knowledge  does  not  keep  people  from  sin." 

As  for  culture,  it  has  become  universal. 
Every  town  has  a  library.  All  the  women  be- 
long to  literary  clubs  and  study  everything 
from  Confucius  to  John  Masefield.     Every 


236  The  Challenge 

other  home  has  its  hundred-best-books  library, 
and  institutions  similar  to  our  nation-wide 
Chautauqua  system  prevail  in  every  country. 
Everybody  goes  to  lectures  as  regularly  as  to 
meals.  Every  home  has  reproductions  of  the 
great  masters,  and  the  best  music  is  heard  in 
all  the  cities.  Germany  has  boasted  of  her 
culture,  and  we  are  proud  of  ours.  But  some- 
how culture  has  failed  to  civilize  us,  and  seems 
to  have  done  little  more  than  veneer  the  bar- 
barian in  us. 

As  for  economic  reform,  social  betterment, 
the  latest  all-sufficient  gospel,  how  absolutely 
it  has  failed.  All  its  high-sounding  talk  has 
proved  but  vanity.  Those  milHons  of  German, 
French  and  English  Socialists  who  had  ban- 
ished war — in  their  speeches  and  at  banquets 
— were  the  first  to  rush  at  one  another's 
throats.  Never  had  social  reform  gone  so  far. 
In  Germany  everybody  had  been  brought  under 
an  excellent  system  of  insurance.  England  for 
the  last  ten  years  has  been  perfecting  an  old 
age  pension  system.  Wages  had  gone  up 
everywhere.  The  people  had  shorter  hours, 
better  homes,  more  luxuries.  But  somehow 
it  did  not  save  them,  and  there  has  come  over 
Europe  a  pretty  general  distrust  of  social 
alleviation  as  a  moral  agency.    "  Be  happy  and 


Need  of  the  Gospel  237 

you  will  be  good,"  is  not  the  great  slogan  of 
redemption  after  all. 

We  think  that  if  there  is  any  one  thing  the 
great  war  is  teaching  us,  it  is  the  utter  insuf- 
ficiency of  these  things  to  hold  men's  passions 
in  leash,  or  to  establish  that  brotherhood  for 
which  the  weary  world  waits.  They  not  only 
lack  power  to  establish  that  kingdom  of  right- 
eousness, justice  and  beauty  which  Jesus  longed 
for,  but  they  have  failed  even  to  make  the 
world  a  decent  or  safe  place  in  which  to  live. 
There  is  only  one  thing  big  enough  to  work 
these  miracles  and  transform  the  world,  and 
that  is  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ.  It  is  time 
to  give  that  Gospel  a  real  chance.  These  other 
things  having  failed;  let  us  now  give  this 
Gospel  a  trial.  But  it  must  be  a  larger  Gospel 
than  we  have  hitherto  preached.  The  world 
will  be  a  new  world  after  this  war  is  over  and 
we  must  give  it  a  new  Gospel.  Men  will  need 
the  Gospel  they  have  always  heard — the  Father- 
hood of  God,  Christ's  revelation  of  that 
Fatherhood,  the  grace  of  God  for  every  soul, 
the  forgiveness  of  sin  through  Christ,  and 
Christ  the  way  of  approach  of  the  soul  to 
God.    But  with  all  this  there  must  be  more. 

There  must  be  emphasis  now  on  the  teach- 
ings of  Jesus.     Christ  must  not  only  be  be- 


238  The  Challenge 

lieved  in,  but  we  must  believe  Him.  Not  only 
must  we  trust  in  Him  for  individual  redemp- 
tion, but  we  must  live  toward  men  as  He  lived. 
Not  only  must  we  accept  Him  as  our  individual 
Saviour,  but  we  must  believe  that  the  Sermon 
on  the  Mount  was  given  to  be  a  law  unto  the 
Christian.  Not  only  must  we  accept  His  Gospel 
on  the  soul's  relationship  to  God,  but  also  on 
man's  relationship  to  man. 

There  must  be  a  new  emphasis  on  Christ's 
Gospel  of  the  unity  of  mankind.  "  All  ye  are 
brethren  "  must  be  our  great  message,  and  it 
must  be  preached  not  as  a  sweet  and  pious 
generalization,  but  as  a  real  truth  to  be  accepted 
as  a  test  of  Christian  faith. 

This  unity  must  be  dearer  to  us  than  pa- 
triotism, the  love  of  the  brethren  more  than 
the  love  of  our  fellow  countrymen.  The  king- 
dom of  Christ  should  be  the  real  country  of, 
every  Christian,  to  this  should  be  his  chief  al- 
legiance. Members  of  that  kingdom,  Christ's 
brothers,  Christ's  "  little  children,"  no  mat- 
ter in  what  nation  found,  should  be  dearer  to 
us  than  citizens  of  our  own  country  who  are 
not  members  of  that  country.  To  quote  the 
recent  remarks  of  a  famous  English  preacher : 
"  If  the  New  Testament  view  is  to  be  retained 
it   is   plainly  contained   in   it  that  a  British 


Need  of  the  Gospel  239 

Christian  should  be  sensible  of  a  closer  kin- 
ship with  a  German  Christian  than  with  a 
Briton  who  is  not  a  Christian.  That  this  is 
not  actually  so  is  simply  an  additional  piece 
of  evidence  of  the  modern  Church's  failure  to 
realize  all  the  implications  of  its  basal  princi- 
ples. If  the  avowed  Christians  of  Germany, 
Great  Britain,  Austria,  France  and  Russia  had 
been  really  conscious  of  their  unity  in  Christ 
and  had  declined  to  go  forth  to  kill  one  another, 
there  would  have  been  no  war." 

The  so-called  "  hard  sayings  "  of  Jesus  must 
be  much  more  emphasized  in  the  preaching  of 
the  future.  Either  Jesus  meant  what  He  said 
when  He  taught  "  Love  your  enemies,"  "  For- 
give the  enemy,"  "  By  this  shall  men  know  ye 
are  my  disciples,  that  ye  have  love  one  toward 
another,"  and  meant  them  for  the  only  law 
of  life,  or  He  did  not.  But  they  are  the  core 
of  His  Gospel,  and  if  we  are  to  call  ourselves 
Christians  we  must  preach  them  and  practise 
them. 

Finally,  the  Gospel  must  be  so  widened  as 
to  include  nations  as  well  as  individuals.  This 
has  been  our  weakness.  We  have  preached, 
"  Thou  Shalt  not  steal,"  "  Thou  shalt  not  kill," 
"  Thou  shalt  not  hate,"  "  Thou  shalt  not  settle 
thy  disputes  by  brute  force,"  "  Thou  shalt  not 


240  The  Challenge 

live  by  rights,  but  by  duties,"  "Thou  shalt 
love  thy  neighbour,"  "  He  is  greatest  among 
you  who  serves  others"  for  the  law  of  the 
Christian.  We  have  never  preached  it  as  the 
law  of  the  nation.  Hereafter  it  should  be 
preached  from  every  pulpit  with  the  same  em- 
phasis that  the  Gospel  for  individual  relation- 
ships receives. 

The  world  needs  the  Gospel  if  it  is  to  be 
saved — this  new,  enlarged  Gospel.  Happy  that 
young  man  who,  having  caught  this  prophetic 
vision,  is  called  upon  to  be  its  preacher. 


XXV 

WHAT  DOES  CHRIST  WANT  US  TO 
DO? 

THIS  is  a  very  searching  question.  It  is 
a  question  which  many  are  asking  in 
these  perplexing  days.  It  is  a  little  dif- 
ferent from  the  question  which  Dr.  Sheldon 
raised  in  his  famous  book,  "  In  His  Steps," 
for  there  the  question  was,  "  What  would 
Jesus  do  were  He  in  my  place  ?  "  That  was  a 
presumptuous  question,  for  no  one  has  a  right 
to  say  what  Jesus  would  do,  were  He  here, 
at  any  particular  time  or  before  any  perplex- 
ing problem.  It  is  permissible,  on  the  other 
hand,  to  ask  one's  self  at  any  time,  "  What 
would  Jesus  have  me  do?  "  But  even  in  this 
case  one  would,  in  the  last  analysis,  have  to 
answer  the  question  for  himself.  One  mis- 
take we  ministers  often  make  is  to  try  and 
be  the  conscience  for  those  who  look  to  us 
for  guidance.  Yet,  in  a  broad  sense,  it  is 
perfectly  legitimate  to  indicate,  with  Christ's 
words  before  us  what  He  would  have  us  all 
241 


242  The  Challenge 

do  in  these  trying  times.  Let  us  then,  recalling 
His  life,  death  and  teachings,  ask  ourselves 
what  He  would  have  us  do. 

Christ  would,  first  of  all,  have  us  keep  very- 
close  to  Him  in  these  days.  We  should  not  act 
hastily,  we  should  not  judge  too  quickly,  we 
should  not  speak  immoderately,  but  live  so 
closely  to  Him  that  we  may  become  absolutely 
imbued  with  His  Spirit,  should  know  His  will, 
yes,  even  hear  from  Him  just  what  we  should 
think,  say  and  do.  If  there  ever  was  a  time 
when  the  Christian  should  possess  his  soul  in 
patience  and  live  hourly  in  most  intimate  com- 
panionship with  his  Lord  it  is  just  now.  All 
things  are  in  confusion  and  chaos.  Old  things 
are  passing  away,  many  things  are  becoming 
new.  During  this  chaos  of  civilization  the 
world  is  passing  over  into  a  new  order.  The 
world  will  never  be  the  same  after  this  war. 
He  who  speaks  out  of  his  own  heart  may  fall 
into  great  error.  Surely  Jesus  would  have 
us  seek  His  will  in  every  word  we  speak.  He 
would  have  us  invite  Him  into  our  hearts  as 
our  monitor  and  guide. 

Surely  Jesus  would  have  us  look  out  upon 
the  world  through  His  eyes  and  take  His  atti- 
tude toward  all  men.  And  His  mind  toward 
men  is  not  hard  to  know.    He  walked  before 


What  Does  Christ  Want  Us  to  Do?      243 

the  world  three  years,  and  His  picture  is  very 
plainly  drawn  in  the  gospels.  Look  and  see; 
He  thought  of  all  men,  bad  men  as  well  as 
good,  as  His  brothers.  Roman  and  Greeks, 
Jews  and  Gentiles,  friends  and  enemies,  were 
His  brothers.  None  of  them  did  He  wish  to 
harm,  all  of  them  He  wished  to  save.  In 
several  recorded  instances  He  refused  to  yield 
to  the  popular  clamour  to  destroy  His  enemies. 
He  said  He  came  to  save  them.  In  the  light 
of  this  surely  He  would  not  have  us  destroy 
our  enemies,  but  yearn  to  save  them.  This 
means,  or  else  it  is  all  a  farce,  that  He  would 
have  us  strive,  not  to  destroy  Germans,  Mexi- 
cans, Englishmen,  Japanese,  Austrians  or  any 
others,  but  try  to  save  them.  Is  this  our  pres- 
ent thought  toward  Germans?  Surely  His 
words  apply  to  nations  as  well  as  men.  Is 
this  the  thought  of  our  nation  at  just  this 
moment?  He  surely  would  have  us  as  in- 
dividuals think  only  of  saving  all  men,  as  a 
nation  think  only  of  saving  all  nations. 

What  would  Jesus  have  us  do?  He  always 
loved  His  enemies  and  forgave  them.  He 
taught  this  explicitly  as  a  law  of  life  for  all 
people  and  all  peoples.  His  last  act,  an  act 
when  men  were  killing  Him,  was  to  forgive  His 
enemies.    One  of  His  first  disciples,  Stephen, 


244.  The  Challenge 

did  the  same  thing.  Are  we  breathing  thoughts 
of  forgiveness  toward  our  enemies?  Are  we 
trying  to  face  our  national  enemies  with 
thoughts  of  forgiveness?  In  one  of  the  morn- 
ing papers  we  are  urged  to  go  to  war  with 
Germany  and  help  destroy  her.  In  one  of 
our  evening  papers  is  an  editorial  and  a  cartoon 
trying  to  stir  our  hatred  toward  Japan.  Are 
these  the  thoughts  Jesus  would  have  us  think 
toward  the  nations  ?  What  would  Jesus  have  us 
do  ?  The  life  of  Jesus  was  one  of  reconciliation. 
He  lived  to  reconcile  men  to  God  and  to 
each  other.  He  died  for  that  same  holy  pur- 
pose. His  Gospel  was  a  gospel  of  reconcilia- 
tion, "  First  be  reconciled  to  thy  brother."  St. 
Paul  found  only  that  meaning  in  His  words, 
His  life,  and  His  death :  "  And  hath  committed 
unto  us  the  word  of  reconciliation/'  Is  our 
chief  aim  in  life  the  reconciliation  of  our 
enemies  with  ourselves,  of  men  with  each 
other?  Is  our  nation  at  this  time  thinking 
chiefly  of  the  God-given  opportunity  of  recon- 
ciling the  hating  nations  of  Europe  with 
each  other,  or  is  the  nation  chiefly  con- 
cerned with  seizing  the  opportunities  for  self- 
enrichment  the  war  offers,  and  making  its  own 
self  secure?  Was  Henry  Ford  a  fool  or  a 
Christian  when  he  started  for  Europe  to  see 


Wliat  Does  Christ  Want  Us  to  Do?      245 

if  he  could  begin  his  process  of  reconciliation  ? 
We  met  a  great-hearted  soul  to-day  who  is 
just  starting  for  Europe,  paying  his  own  ex- 
penses, to  see  if  he  could  begin  reconciling 
some  Germans  and  Englishmen  who  used  to  be 
beautiful  friends.  Is  he  a  fool  or  a  Christian? 
Is  he  doing  what  Jesus  would  have  us  all  do  ? 

What  would  Jesus  have  us  do?  He  came 
into  a  world  where  everything  was  based  on 
force.  He  spoke  against  force  as  a  human 
instrument  again  and  again,  and  told  men  to 
supplant  it  by  love.  He  practised  this  teach- 
ing all  His  days.  To  be  sure  it  ended  disas- 
trously for  Himself;  but  it  released  a  power 
that  has  transformed  billions  of  lives.  Can 
any  one  read  His  words  and  follow  His  life 
and  death  and  not  say  that  one  thing  He  would 
have  us  do  is  to  infuse  love  into  all  the  rela- 
tionships of  men,  base  civilization  upon  it, 
and  practise  it  in  our  own  life?  "It  is  im- 
practicable," even  many  who  bear  the  name 
of  Christians,  are  saying.  Yes,  Wu  Ting  Fang 
said  this,  when  in  our  country,  and  advised  us 
to  take  Confucianism  as  a  religion.  Are  you 
sure  it  is  impracticable?  Europe  has  tried 
force  for  2,000  years,  and  what  a  spectacle 
the  result  is!  A  well-known  preacher  said, 
not  long  ago,  that  if  all  the  lunatics  in  all  the 


246  The  Challenge 

asylums  of  Europe  had  been  in  the  cabinets 
of  Europe,  they  could  not  have  dragged 
Europe  into  a  worse  hell  than  that  in  which 
her  cabinets  have  landed  her.  Does  it  look 
as  if  the  world's  doctrine  of  force  is  very 
practicable?  Suppose  we  should  do  as  Jesus 
would  have  us  do,  and  try  love  for  a 
while,  could  it  possibly  be  more  impracticable 
than  force  has  been?  It  certainly  could  not 
land  the  world  in  any  worse  hell  than  force 
has  made,  for  there  is  none. 

What  would  Jesus  have  us  do?  He  would 
have  us  devote  our  life  to  the  ideals  He  has 
given  us,  and  without  compromise.  There  is 
no  compromise  in  His  life.  He  had  an  ideal 
of  action  and  He  adhered  to  it.  Here  again 
it  ended  disastrously  to  Himself,  but  it  gave  the 
world  the  only  ideal  worthy  the  name  that  it 
has  had  for  two  thousand  years.  Everywhere 
about  us  to-day  compromise  is  being  urged. 
We  are  being  told  Christ's  ideal  was  all  right 
for  the  twelve  to  whom  He  gave  it,  and  is 
all  right  for  the  millennium  which  is  far  off, 
but  we  must  accommodate  it  to  our  times. 
Societies  are  even  being  formed,  based  on  this 
principle  of  compromise  and  accommodation. 
The  ideal  must  be  attenuated  to  weak  human 
nature,  to  the  world  as  we  find  it.    We  heard 


What  Does  Christ  Want  Us  to  Do?     247 

this  urged  by  a  Christian  minister  the  other 
day.  He  used  the  dignified  phrase  that  the 
Christian  must  "  stop  chewing  the  ohve  branch 
and  chew  brass  tacks."  The  "  New  York 
Evening  Post "  for  April  26  reports  that  when 
a  resolution  was  offered  in  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce,  on  the  day  before,  to  indicate  a 
willingness  to  meet  representatives  of  other 
governments  in  a  convention  to  promote  the 
future  peace  of  the  world,  one  of  its  mem- 
bers, in  criticizing  the  resolution,  said  that 
"  the  millennium  was  a  long  way  off,  and  that 
it  would  be  enough  to  forward  preparations 
for  national  defence  without  setting  out  to  do 
away  with  war."  Needless  to  say  the  prepared- 
ness resolution  was  passed  and  the  other 
"  referred  back  to  the  committee."  It  is  this 
Chamber  of  Commerce  gospel  many  ministers 
are  advocating  to-day,  as  against  the  Christian 
Gospel  contained  in  the  spurned  resolution. 
With  compromise  of  the  ideal  Christ  had 
nothing  to  do.  Surely  in  this  time  of  com- 
promise Christ  would  have  the  Christian  stand 
for  the  ideal  without  flinching.  Happy  they 
who  have  strength  to  do  it.  It  is  they,  not  the 
accommodators,  who  shall  stand  with  the 
immortals. 

Once  more:  What  would  Jesus  have  us  do? 


248  The  Challenge 

He  would  have  us  devote  our  lives  not  to  care 
for  them,  not  to  protecting  them,  not  to  de- 
fending them,  but  to  high  service  of  all  man- 
kind in  His  name,  and  to  allegiance  to  His 
kingdom.  There  are  many  to-day  thinking 
first  of  self-preservation.  There  are  many 
to-day  who  put  allegiance  to  their  country 
or  race  above  allegiance  to  humanity,  which 
is  His  kingdom.  But  Christ  took  no  thought 
of  self.  He  never  worried  about  defending 
Himself.  His  chief  allegiance  was  not  to 
Jerusalem  nor  to  the  Jewish  race.  His  only 
thought  was  the  service  of  His  brothers.  His 
chief  allegiance  was  to  humanity.  Above  all 
nations  was  the  kingdom.  Surely  He  would 
have  us  follow  Him  in  a  self -forgetful  service. 
Surely  He  would  have  us  love  His  kingdom 
first.  What  an  opportunity  to  all  brave  souls 
to  do  what  Christ  would  have  us  do! 


XXVI 

JES.US'    TEST   OF   DISCIPLESHIP 

IT  is  with  a  profound  sense  of  relief  that 
one  sometimes  turns  from  the  tests  of 
Christian  faith  which  have  been  set  up 
by  the  churches  to  the  test  which  Jesus  Him- 
self imposed  upon  those  who  would  enter  the 
kingdom.  We  recently  had  occasion  to  ex- 
amine the  creed  of  a  famous  Church,  to  which 
creed,  until  recently,  every  one  joining  that 
Church  was  supposed  to  subscribe.  It  is  really 
a  treatise  on  systematic  theology — an  able  one, 
too,  but  quite  as  far  from  the  words  of  Jesus 
as  one  could  conveniently  go.  Neither  was  it 
greatly  concerned  with  the  facts  of  Christ.  It 
was  concerned  with  interpretation  of  those 
facts.  But  when  one  turns  from  the  creeds 
and  confessions  to  the  Gospels  he  finds  himself 
in  quite  another  atmosphere.  Here  is  all  sim- 
plicity, although  all  is  greatness.  Again  and 
again  Christ  affirms  the  test  of  disciple- 
ship.  "  By  this  shall  all  men  know  that  ye  are 
my  disciples — that  ye  have  love  one  toward 
249 


250  The  Challenge 

another."  In  the  world,  he  is  greatest  who 
rules  and  lords  it  over  others  and  gets  the  most 
for  himself.  But  in  Christ's  kingdom  he  is 
greatest  who  serves,  he  is  chief  who  lives  in 
lowly  ministry.  The  m.eek,  lowly,  merciful, 
pure  man  is  blessed  and  enters  His  kingdom. 
"  Be  ye  perfect  as  your  Father  in  heaven  is 
perfect"  is  Jesus'  ideal  for  the  soul.  The 
Father  in  heaven  who  loves,  comforts,  for- 
gives and  helps  men  realizes  this  perfection  is 
His  gospel.  His  good  news.  It  is  all  so  simple 
that  a  child  can  grasp  it,  although  it  is  as  great 
as  suns  and  seas  and  stars.  And  when  he 
would  sum  it  all  up  and  give  illustration,  He 
turns  to  a  little  child.  There  is  no  more  signifi- 
cant fact  in  all  history.  The  greatest  religion 
the  world  has  known,  the  religion  many  of  us 
think  absolute  and  final,  is  focussed  in  a  little 
child  on  a  man's  knee.  Jesus  sets  the  child  on 
His  knee,  and  as  He  strokes  its  hair  says,  "  Ex- 
cept ye  be  converted,  and  become  as  little 
children,  ye  shall  not  enter  the  kingdom  of 
heaven.  Whosoever  therefore  shall  humble 
himself  as  this  little  child,  the  same  is  greatest 
in  the  kingdom  of  heaven."  To  become  a 
Christian  is  to  become  as  a  little  child ! 

What   did   Jesus   mean?     Of   course.   He 
meant  that  one  had  got  to  rid  himself  of  all 


Jesus'  Test  of  Discipleship  251 

sham,  hypocrisy,  pride,  self-conceit,  self- 
righteousness,  self -consciousness,  and  become 
before  God  as  a  little  child.  A  child  is  guile- 
less, innocent,  single-minded,  transparent  as 
glass.  Whatever  else  children  may  be,  they 
are  not  hypocrites;  they  do  not  lead  double 
lives;  they  do  not  pose,  A  child  is  not  self- 
conscious,  is  never  puffed  up,  conceited,  proud, 
overestimating  himself,  thinking  himself 
great.  This  is  just  what  men  are  doing  all 
the  time.  Jesus  says  the  first  step  into  His 
kingdom  is  to  get  rid  of  all  this  self-esteem, 
this  vanity,  this  pride,  this  complexity  of  mo- 
tive, this  duplicity,  and  become  in  God's  eyes 
again  as  a  little,  guileless,  teachable  child. 

Jesus  must  also  have  been  thinking  of  the 
faith  element  in  childhood,  for  faith  was  the 
fundamental  article  of  His  philosophy  of  life. 
And  faith  in  his  parents,  in  men  and  women 
everywhere,  in  the  general  goodness  of  the 
world,  is  the  foundation  of  the  child's  life. 
This  faith  is  so  absolute  that  it  is  unconscious, 
as  most  great  truths  are.  Jesus  says  that  this 
simple,  childlike  faith  in  the  heavenly  Father 
— absolute  trust  in  His  providence,  so  that  one 
can  go  out  and  do  His  work  in  the  world  as  the 
little  child  does  his  work  and  play,  believing 
that  the  Father  will  feed  one  as  the  child  knows 


252  The  Challenge 

his  parents  will  feed  him — this  is  the  first  great 
article  of  faith  in  the  Christian's  creed.  To 
the  child  the  world  is  good,  and  moves  out  into 
goodness.  It  is  not  an  easy  faith  to  keep, 
especially  in  these  days.  But  Jesus  kept  it,  and 
those  who  can  keep  it  are  the  happy  folk. 
Beware  the  day  when,  through  disillusion- 
ment, one  becomes  blase,  sceptical  of  life's 
goodness,  and  old. 

One  of  the  most  outstanding  traits  of  the 
child  is  his  zest  for  living,  the  eagerness  with 
which  he  greets  the  day.  New  every  morning 
is  the  world,  and  brighter  and  fresher  than  it 
was  yesterday.  Life  is  an  alluring  thing. 
Each  day  holds  out  more  promise  than  any 
day  that  has  ever  been.  There  is  no  living  in 
the  past,  no  thought  that  life  has  yielded  its 
best.  The  child's  golden  age  is  never  behind  it; 
it  is  always  in  to-morrow.  Jesus  knew  that 
this  general  attitude  toward  life  was  absolutely 
necessary  to  any  rich,  full,  advancing  life. 
That  it  was  not  only  the  only  joy  that  lasted, 
but  was  the  one  thing  that  kept  the  world 
young  and  sweet.  Such  men  are  the  salt  of  the 
earth,  the  light  of  the  world.  What  a  joy  it 
was  to  know  Munger,  Smiley,  Collyer,  Cuyler, 
Hale — men  who  kept  this  childlike  zest  of  liv- 
ing to  the  end ;  men  who  at  seventy  and  eighty 


Jesus'  Test  of  Discipleship  253 

were  as  interested  in  the  moving  world  and 
taking  as  much  part  in  it  as  those  of  thirty  and 
forty ! 

There  are  other  traits  of  childhood  one 
might  mention  which  were  undoubtedly  in 
Christ's  mind  at  this  time.  The  child  is  eager 
to  learn,  full  of  curiosity,  which,  kept  through 
later  life,  becomes  eagerness  for  knowledge. 
The  child  is  always  creating  something.  Did 
one  ever  know  a  child  who  was  not  building 
castles  with  his  blocks,  whole  towns  and  walled 
cities  when  on  the  beach,  tunnels  and  railroads 
out  of  scraps  of  wood  and  iron?  This  creative 
instinct  persists  in  some  men,  and  they  are  the 
world's  benefactors.  Most  of  us  lose  it,  and 
live  half-lives. 

But  one  thing  Jesus  must  surely  have  been 
thinking  about  when  He  put  the  little  child  upon 
His  knee  and  said,  "  Here  is  the  real  Christian." 
The  child  believes  in  brotherhood — real 
brotherhood.  He  does  not  talk  it,  as  we  do, 
bue  he  lives  it,  as  we  do  not.  There  is  no  trace 
of  race  prejudice  in  the  child.  He  plays  with 
Italian  and  Japanese  children,  with  rich  and 
poor,  dirty  and  clean,  and  they  are  all  one  to 
him.  Race  prejudice,  class  distinctions,  na- 
tional animosities  are  all  educated  into  the 
child.     It  is  the  parents  who  make  of  the 


254.  The  Challenge 

children  haters  of  their  brothers.  If  all  the 
parents  could  be  killed  off  and  the  children  left 
to  grow  up  uninstructed  by  them,  there  would 
probably  not  be  a  vestige  of  ill  feeling  left 
between  Germans  and  French,  Japanese  and 
Americans.  A  great  Frenchman  said  to  us 
on  the  eve  of  the  European  war :  "  This  hatred 
between  Germans  and  French  is  all  a  cultivated, 
artificial,  imparted  thing.  I  have  watched 
German  and  French  children  playing  together 
in  Alsace  on  the  border  line,  and  they  were 
all  unconscious  of  any  hatreds  whatever.  But 
as  soon  as  they  are  old  enough  to  understand 
anything,  the  governments  and  the  parents  of 
both  nations  begin  systematic  endeavour  to 
instil  hatred  of  their  neighbours  in  their 
breasts."  Neither  race  nor  nationality  had  any 
interest  for  Jesus.  He  knew  they  were  arti- 
ficial things  and  provocative  of  strife.  He 
wanted  His  disciples  to  rise  above  all  these 
things  into  the  kingdom,  into  the  brotherhood 
of  all  aliens,  and  it  is  just  there  that  the  child 
lives. 


XXVII 
SOME  RAYS  OF  HOPE 

THERE  is  no  doubt  but  that  a  great 
despondency  rests  upon  most  people 
who  are  doing  any  thinking  in  these 
days,  or  who  have  any  heart,  or  who  are 
concerned  over  the  estabhshment  of  the  king- 
dom of  Christ.  The  Dark  Ages  could  not 
have  been  any  darker  than  are  ours.  We  can- 
not blame  any  one  for  feeling  discouraged, 
neither  have  we  any  of  those  words  of  shallow 
optimism  which  come  from  certain  preachers 
and  editors  who  lack  both  vision  and  capacity 
to  enter  into  the  sorrows  of  the  world.  Who 
can  help  feeling  despondent  who  really  pauses 
and  thinks  :  Europe  committing  physical,  politi- 
cal and  moral  suicide;  hatreds  drowning  out 
all  true  religious  sentiment  and  instinct;  all 
the  money  both  of  to-day  and  the  future  in 
Europe  being  taken  from  religion,  education 
and  reform  to  be  used  in  human  slaughter;  all 
the  papers  from  England  deploring  lack  of 
interest  in  religion ;  in  our  own  land  the  con- 

255 


256  The  Challenge 

tagion  of  war  and  militarism  from  Europe 
possessing  us,  so  that  we  have  ministers  of  the 
Lord  of  love,  forgiveness,  good-will,  brother- 
hood, screaming  as  loud  as  have  our  European 
brothers  for  the  last  ten  years  for  arms  and 
war  and  revenge;  along  with  this  the  hunger 
and  crying  of  a  million  starving  children  of 
Europe,  whose  sufferings  apparently  have  no 
deterrent  effect  upon  the  war  makers  and  war 
lovers  of  the  nations.  ' 

But  in  the  midst  of  all  this  darkness  now 
and  then  a  ray  of  light  shines,  a  sign  of  hope, 
a  little  triumph  of  Christianity  that  makes  one 
feel  that  darkness  is  not  over  the  face  of  the 
world  forever,  and  that  those  who  stand  for 
righteousness,  justice  and  good-will  still  have 
some  grounds  for  faith.  There  are  two  or 
three  of  these  rays  of  hope,  which  are  just 
now  shining  and  which  should  greatly  cheer 
us  who  are  striving  for  the  kingdom. 

The  first  of  these  is  the  triumph  of  the  prison 
reform  movement.  For  that  is  what  the  rein- 
statement of  Thomas  Mott  Osborne  as  warden 
of  Sing  Sing  really  means.  The  dastardly 
attack  upon  Mr.  Osborne  by  the  old  prison 
ring,  the  group  of  those  who  saw  graft,  fat 
contracts  and  big  commissions  passing  from 
their  hands,  and  by  the  other  group  of  those^ 


Some  Rays  of  Hope  257 

who  believe  in  the  old,  vindictive  eye-for-eye- 
tooth-for-tooth  punishment  of  criminals,  was 
not  chiefly  or  solely  an  attack  upon  Mr.  Os- 
borne, but  upon  the  whole  idea  of  Christian 
treatment  of  criminals.  Indeed,  sooner  or 
later,  all  these  attempts  to  check  and  hinder 
the  new  ideals  of  redemption  as  over  against 
revenge,  whether  it  be  in  application  to  in- 
dividual or  national  relationships,  are  blows 
at  the  introduction  of  Christ  methods  into 
human  affairs.  There  is  nothing  that  is  ever 
so  much  resisted,  nothing  that  so  angers  the 
stand-pat,  respectable  portion  of  society  so 
much,  as  the  endeavour  to  apply  the  teachings 
and  ideals  of  Christ  to  a  new  realm  of  life, 
a  new  sphere  of  human  activity.  Progress 
largely  consists  in  adding  the  triumph  of  these 
ideals  to  one  sphere  of  life,  and  then  going  on 
to  fight  for  them  in  another. 

The  fundamental  philosophy  of  the  prison 
system  has  been  threefold :  first,  that  the  crimi- 
nal should  get  back  what  he  gave,  punishment 
to  fit  the  crime;  secondly,  that  punishment 
should  be  of  such  a  nature  as  should  deter 
others  from  crime ;  thirdly,  that  society  should 
be  protected  from  the  criminal.  The  first 
principle  is,  of  course,  utterly  barbarous,  that 
of  revenge;  the  second  has  never  worked,  for 


258  The  Challenge 

there  is  not  the  slightest  indication  that  the 
severe  punishment  of  one  man  ever  kept  other 
men  from  criminal  acts;  and  the  third  principle 
has,  instead  of  protecting  society,  been  its 
worst  menace,  for  our  prisons  have  invariably 
succeeded  in  sending  out  their  inmates  more 
hostile  to  society  than  when  they  entered. 

Now  along  comes  a  group  of  people,  such 
leaders   as    Samuel    Barrows,    Thomas    Mott 
Osborne,  George  W.  Kirchwey,  Madeleine  Z. 
Doty    and    John    Galsworthy,    who    demand 
nothing  more  nor  less  than  that  the  Christian 
principles    be    applied    to    the    treatment    of 
prisoners.     What  these  principles  are  can  be 
determined    by    one    glance    at    the    Gospels. 
Jesus'  every  word  expresses  them;   in  every 
contact  with  sinful  people  He  expressed  them, 
namely :  that  the  duty  of  society  to  the  criminal 
was  to  redeem  him,  and  that  the  only  way  to 
protect  society  was  to  make  the  evil  people 
over  into  good  members  of  it.    The  first  prin- 
ciple has  come  to  be  recognized  as  the  essence 
of  religion;  the  second  as  good  common  sense 
and  the  only  practical  method  of  protecting 
society.    Mr.  Osborne  started  in  to  apply  these 
methods  at   Sing  Sing  with  a  thoroughness 
never  before  exemplified,  aUhough  experiments 
had  been  begun  in  many  quarters.     Mr.  Os- 


Some  Rays  of  Hope  259 

borne's  success  was  wonderful.     It  was  too 
great.     It  stirred  the  resentment  of  the  old 
crowd  who  had  lived  on  the  prisons;  it  awoke 
the  antagonism  of  the  politicians,  it  frightened 
those  who   always   resist   the  application  of 
Christianity  to  a  new  sphere  of  life.     But  the 
new  ideals  have  triumphed.    Mr.  Osborne  was 
merely  the  representative  of  a  great  cause.    It 
was  the  cause  which  was  on  trial  and  the  cause 
has  won.    More  widely  than  ever  the  redemp- 
tive idea  will  be  applied,  and  Mr.  Osborne's 
contention  that  prisons  are  churches,  hospitals 
and  schools,  not  charnel  houses,  and  that  the 
best  way  to  protect  society  is  to  send  out  men 
with  good-will  toward  it,  will  be  maintained. 
Another  ray  of  hope  is  the  stand  the  Presi- 
dent has  taken  on  the  Mexican  situation  and 
that  so  many  of  the  American  people  stood  so 
splendidly  behind  him.    Mr.  Wilson  has  taken 
the   same   attitude   toward   Mexico   that  Mr. 
Osborne    has   taken   toward    Sing   Sing,    the 
Christian  attitude,  that  the  thing  to  do  to  the 
criminal  is  not  to  lambaste  him,  not  to  starve 
him,  not  to  kill  him,  not  to  punish  him  simply 
for  the  sake  of  punishing  him,  but  to  redeem 
him  and  win  his  good-will.    Certain  Mexicans 
— of  the  irresponsible  part  of  the  population 
— ^have  made  raids  into  this  country.    A  few 


260  The  Challenge 

Americans  have  lost  their  lives  in  Mexico. 
Some  American  property  has  been  unprotected. 
It  has  been  difficult  to  persuade  Mr.  Carranza 
to  work  in  concert  with  the  American  army  to 
capture  the  brigands  and  restore  order.  As  a 
result  of  all  this,  the  exploiters,  the  yellow 
journals,  the  militarists  and  the  war-lovers 
about  the  country  have  been  working  night  and 
day  to  get  us  to  go  to  war  against  Mexico, 
and  have  spared  no  toil  and  no  lies  to  bring 
about  invasion. 

Such  invasion  would,  of  course,  work 
for  Mexico  just  what  the  old  Sing  Sing  did 
for  its  inmates — harden  the  heart,  arouse  last- 
ing and  bitter  hatred,  fasten  the  resolve  upon 
Mexico  to  get  even  with  us  at  the  first  oppor- 
tunity, and  help  no  one  but  the  grafters  back 
of  the  invasion.  Mr.  Wilson  has  seen  this 
in  regard  to  Mexico  just  as  Mr.  Osborne  did 
for  Sing  Sing  and  has  come  out  splendidly  for 
the  Christian  procedure  just  at  a  time  when  it 
looked  as  though  nothing  in  the  world  would 
hold  us  back  from  war.  His  superb  words 
have  been  the  greatest  encouragement  of  any- 
thing in  these  dark  days.  The  fact,  too,  that  so 
many  ministers — one  would  naturally  suppose 
that  all  ministers  would  take  the  Christian 
point  of  view,  but  they  have  not,  for  some  have 


Some  Rays  of  Hope  261 

been  silent,  and  some  have  even  upheld  the 
war  crowd — teachers,  business  men  and  work- 
ingmen  immediately  wrote  and  wired  the 
President  to  remain  firm  in  his  Christian 
course  was  a  great  encouragement  in  these 
days,  when  the  war  fever  holds  the  whole 
world  in  its  grasp.  The  "  New  York  Evening 
Sun  "  of  June  29,  on  the  day  the  freed  Ameri- 
can prisoners  reached  the  border,  said: 
"  Hundreds  of  telegrams  were  delivered  to  the 
White  House  this  morning  urging  the  Presi- 
dent to  take  all  possible  steps  for  peace  with 
Mexico.  Many  of  the  telegrams  suggested  that 
the  United  States  ought  to  be  willing  to  arbi- 
trate the  questions  in  dispute.  White  House 
officials  seemed  tO'  regard  the  great  bulk  of 
telegrams  as  a  pretty  marked  indication  of  the 
feeling  of  the  country."  Several  delegations 
went  from  mass  meetings  held  in  New  York 
to  see  the  President  and  hundreds  of  the  leading 
clergymen  of  the  nation  wrote  Mr.  Wilson. 
We  hear  that  the  President  was  very  grateful 
for  all  this  backing,  and  that  it  has  greatly 
encouraged  him  in  the  determination  to  do  the 
Christian  thing  in  Mexico  instead  of  the  old 
military,  futile  thing.  What  a  throb  of  hope 
went  through  the  heart  of  the  Christians  of 
the  country  when  Mr.  Wilson  uttered  those 


262  The  Challenge 

great  words  before  the  New  York  Press  Club 
at  one  of  its  recent  meetings!  What  an  en- 
couragement to  all  believers  in  the  new  way 
and  in  the  application  of  Christianity  to  inter- 
national affairs  are  the  equally  great  words 
recently  uttered  at  Detroit: 

"  I  was  trying  to  expound  in  another  place 
the  other  day  the  long  way  and  the  short  way 
to  get  together.  The  long  way  is  to  fight. 
I  have  heard  some  gentlemen  say  that  they 
want  to  help  Mexico,  and  the  way  they  propose 
to  help  her  is  tO'  overwhelm  her  with  force. 
That  is  the  long  way  to  help  Mexico,  as  well 
as  the  wrong  way.  Because  after  the  fighting 
you  have  a  nation  full  of  justified  suspicions 
and  animated  by  well-founded  hostility  and 
hatred.  And  then  will  you  help  them?  Then 
will  you  establish  cordial  business  relationships 
with  them  ?  Then  will  you  go  on  as  neighbours 
and  establish  their  confidence?  On  the  con- 
trary, you  will  have  shut  every  door  as  if  it 
were  of  steel  against  you.  What  makes 
Mexico  suspicious  of  us  is  that  she  does  not 
believe  as  yet  that  we  want  to  serve  her.  She 
believes  we  want  to  possess  her.  And  she  has 
justification  for  the  belief  in  the  way  in  which 
some  of  our  fellow-citizens  have  tried  to  ex- 
ploit her  privileges  and  possessions.     For  my 


Some  Rays  of  Hope  263 

part,  I  will  not  serve  the  ambitions  of  those 
gentlemen,  but  I  will  try  to  serve  all  America, 
so  far  as  intercourse  with  Mexico  is  concerned, 
by  trying  to  serve  Mexico  herself." 

That  is  real  Christianity!  There  is  no  more 
justification  for  a  nation  living  to  itself  than 
for  an  individual,  and  the  individual  who  lives 
for  himself  is  not  a  Christian,  whatever  else 
he  is!  How  these  words  stand  out  amid  the 
welter  of  the  world,  amid  the  sordid  voices  of 
selfish  kings.  How  infinitely  above  such  a 
sentence  as  "  The  first  duty  of  a  nation  is  to 
protect  the  lives  of  its  citizens  "  stands  this 
word  of  Mr.  Wilson,  "  I  will  try  to  serve  all 
America  ...  by  trying  to  serve  Mexico 
herself." 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 


QUESTIONS  OF  THE  FAITH 

JAMES  H.  SNOWDEN,  P.P. 

The  Psychology  of  Religion 

8vo,  cloth,  net  $1.50. 

Psychology  is  one  of  the  most  rapidly  advancing  of  modern 
sciences,  and  Dr.  Snowden's  book  will  find  a  ready  welcome. 
While  especially  adapted  for  the  use  of  ministers  and  teach- 
ers, it  is  not  in  any  sense  an  ultra-academic  work.  This  is 
evidenced  by  the  fact  that  the  material  forming  it  has  been 
delivered  not  only  as  a  successful  Summer  School  course,  but 
in  the  form  of  popular  lectures,  open  to  the  general  public. 

WILLIAM  HALLOCK  JOHNSON,  Ph.P.,  P.P. 

Profuitr  •/  Greek  and  New  Testament  Literature  in  Lincoln  University,  Pa, 

The  Christian  Faith  under  Modern 
Searchlight 

The  L.  P.  Stone  Lectures,  Princeton.  Intro- 
duction by  Francis  L.  Patton,  D.D.    Cloth,  net  $1.25. 

The  faith  which  is  to  survive  must  not  only  be  a  traditional 
but  an  intelligent  faith  which  has  its  roots  in  reason  and  ex- 
perience and  its  blossom  and  fruit  in  character  and  good 
works.  To  this  end,  the  author  examines  the  fundamentals 
of  the  Christian  belief  in  the  light  of  to-day  and  reaches  the 
conclusion  that  every  advance  in  knowledge  establishes  its 
•overeign  claim  to  be  from  heaven  and  not  from  men. 

ANPREJV  jr.  ARCHIBALP,    P.P. 

Author  of  "The  Bible  Verified,"  "The  Trend  of  the  Centuries,"  etc. 

The  Modem  Man  Facing  the  Old 
Problems 

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form  or  another,  seem  recurrent  in  every  age,  are  examined 
from  what  may  be  called  a  Biblical  viewpoint.  That  is  to  say, 
the  author  by  its  illuminating  rays,  endeavors  to  find  eluci- 
dation and  solution  for  the  difficulties,  which  in  more  or  less 
degree,   perplex  believer  and  unbeliever   alike. 

NOLAN    RICE    BEST  Editor  of  "The  continent" 

Applied  Religion  for  Everyman 

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Nolan  Rice  Best  has  earned  a  well-deserved  reputation  in 
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represent  his  best  efforts,  and  contains  an  experienced  edi- 
tor's suggestions  for  the  ever-recurrent  problems _  confronting 
Church  members  as  a  body,  and  as  individual  Christians.  Mr. 
Best  wields  a  facile  pen,  and  a  sudden  gleam  of  beauty,_  a 
difficult  thought  set  in  a  perfect  phrase,  or  an  old  idea  in- 
vested with  new  meaning  and  grace,  meets  one  at  every  turn 
of  the  page."— The  Record  Herald. 


QUESTIONS  OF  THE  FAITH 

LEIVIS  SPERRY  CHAFER 

The  Kingdom  in  History  and  Prophecy 

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"Anything  that  comes  from  the  pen  of  this  writer  and 
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historical  and  prophetic  aspects  of  the  kingdom  of  God  in 
their  relations  to  the  present  age  and  that  which  is  shortly 
to  come." — Christian  Worker's  Magazine, 

REV.    D.   M.  CANRIGHT 

The  Complete  Testimony 

The  Testimony  of  the  Early  Fathers,  Proving  the 
Universal  Observance  of  Sunday  in  the  First  Cen- 
turies.   i2mo,  paper,  net  20c. 

The  author  of  "Seventh  Day  Adventism"  gives  in  concise, 
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Fathers  from  the  Apostles  down  to  A.  D.  400.  Invaluable 
to  pastor  and  people — there  is  no  other  booklet  like  it. 

C.    F.    WIMBERLT,   B.A. 

Behold  the  Morning ! 

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the  three  books  that  I  would  recommend  to  any  one  who 
wishes  to  take  up  a  study  of  the  subject." 

HENRY  T.  SELL,  P.P. 

Bible  Studies  in  Vital  Questions 

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way  with  the  vital  questions  of  the  Christian  faith  about  the 
Bible,  God,  Man  and  the  Church.  I.  Vital  Questions  About 
the  Bible.  II.  Vital  Questions  About  God.  III.  Vital  Ques- 
tions About  Man.    IV.  Vital  Questions  About  the  Church. 

EPWARP    LEIGH  PELL 

Author  0/  "Pell's  Notts  on  the  Sunday  School  Ltsson" 

Our  Troublesome  Religious  Questions 

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believer  and  unbeliever  alike.  The  author  displays  a  marked 
ability  to  take  up  these  questions  and  examine  them  with 
sagacity,  impartiality  and  an  optimistic,  triumphant  faith. 


PRAYER,  DEVOTIONAL,  Etc. 


/■    STUART   HO  LP  EN,    M.A.      Au,h,ro/"Th,W.,fFulUrPur- 

fose,"  "The  Prici  of  Ptwtr,"  tic. 

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eternal.  The  troublous  days  through  which  the  world  is  now 
passing,  has  brought  perplexity  and  sorrow  to  many  loving 
hearts.  For  all  such,  as  well  as  for  believers  everywhere,  Mr. 
Holden's  new  book  breathes  a  message  of  solace  and  enheart- 
enment. 

fr.  H.  GRIFFITH  THOMAS,  D.D.  Wyeliffe  ColUee 

"— — — — ~— ^— ^■~— — ^~~— — — ~~  Toronto,  Canada 

Grace  and  Power 

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the  protective  grace  flung  around  the  believer,  enabling  one 
to  hold  fast  to  his  ideals.  — Christian  Work. 

AUGUSTA  ALBERTSON 

Through  Gates  of  Pearl 

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Scripture  in  a  satisfying  way  accomplished  by  few  books  writ- 
ten by  lay-writers." — Book  News. 

J.     M.     CAMPBELL,    D.D.      Author tf" Grow  OU  AUm with  M^" 
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Prayer  as  related  to  the  conception  of  God,  the  conception  of 
m.an,  bodily  healing,  spiritual  force,  natural  phenomena  and 
war,  are  some  of  the  issues  dealt  with  by  Dr.  Campbell.  A 
timely  and  valuable  treatise  on  the  highest  function  of  the  soul. 

JAMES  G.  K.  McCLURE,  D.D. 

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SERMONS  AND  ADDRESSES 


/     H     JOWETT     DD  Fifth  Avenut  Presbyterian  church 

— : New  Yori 

The  Whole  Armour  of  God 

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thoughts  are  always  expressed  in  the  simplest  possible  diction, 
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hended."— Christian  Evangelist. 

EDGAR    DE  WITT  JONES  Author  0/  "The  Inner  CircW 

The  Wisdom  of  God's  Fools 

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A  volume  of  discourses,  displaying  the  same  facility  for  the 
right  word  and  fitting  phrase  which  marked  the  author's  pre- 
vious work.  Mr.  Jones  preaches  sermons  that  read  well — a 
not  at  all  common  quality.  He  is  a  thinker  too;  and  brings 
to  his  thinking  a  lucidity  and  attractiveness  which  make  his 
presentation  of  great  truths  an  artistic,  as  well  as  an  inspiring 
achievement.  A  note  of  deep  spirituality  is  everywhere  mani- 
fest. 

FREDERICK  F.    SHANNON      Pastor  of  the  Reformed- Church-m- 
— — — ^ the-Heiehts,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

The  Enchanted  Universe 

And  Other  Sermons.    i2mo,  cloth,  net  $1.00. 

Mr.  Shannon's  reputation  as  an  eloquent  and  forceful 
preacher  is  still  further  enhanced  by  his  new  volume  of  ser- 
mons. The  fervid,  glowing  character  of  the  popular  Brooklyn 
pastor's  appeals,  make  the  reading  of  his  latest  book,  not  only 
an  inspiring,  but  a  fascinating  exercise. 

GEORGE  JV.    TRUETT,D.D.  Pastor  First  Baptist 

' ■ ■ Church,  Dallas,  Tex. 

We  Would  See  Jesus  and  Other  Sermons 

Compiled  and  edited  by  J.  B.  CranfiU.    Net  $1.00. 

"One  of  the  greatest — many  would  say  the  greatest — of  all 
the  world's  preachers  to-day.  It  ranks  high  among  the  ex- 
tant books  of  sermons,  past  and  present,  and  deserves  a  place 
in  millions  of  homes." — Biblical  Recorder. 

BISHOP  CHARLES  EDWARD  CHENEY 

A  Neglected  Power 

And  Other  Sermons.    i2mo,  cloth,  net  $1.00. 

"Thoroughly  evangelical  in  spirit,  refreshing  in  Biblical 
truth  and  abounding  in  helpful  ministrations  for  every  day 
life." — Evangelical  Messenger. 


SERMONS— LECTURES— ADDRESSES 

JAMES  L.  GORDON,    P.P. 

All's  Love  Yet  All's  Law 

i2mo,  cloth,  net  $1.25. 

"Discloses  the  secret  of  Dr.  Gordon's  eloquence — fresh, 
and  intimate  presentations  of  truth  which  always  keep  close 
to  reality.  Dr.  Gordon  also  seems  to  have  the  world's  litera- 
ture at  his  command.  A  few  of  the  titles  will  give  an  idea 
of  the  scope  of  his  preaching.  'The  L,aw  of  Truth:  The 
Science  of  Universal  Relationships';  'The  Law  of  Inspiration: 
The  Vitalizing  Power  of  Truth';  'The  Law  of  Vibration'; 
'The  Law  of  Beauty:  The  Spiritualizing  Power  of  Thought'; 
The  Soul's  Guarantee  of  Immortality." — Christian  Work, 
BISHOP  tRANCIS  J.  McCONNELL         Cole  Lectures 

Personal  Christianity 

Instruments  and  Ends  in  the  Kingdom  of  God. 
I2mo,  cloth,  net  $1.25. 

The  latest  volume  of  the  famous  "Cole  Lectures"  delivered 
at  Vanderbilt  University.  The  subjects  are:  I.  Tie  Per- 
sonal in  Christianity.  II.  The  Instrumental  in  Christianity. 
III.  The  Mastery  of  World-Views.  IV.  The  Invigoration 
of  Morality.  V.  The  Control  of  Social  Advance.  VI. 
"Every  Kindred,  and  People,  and  Tongue." 
NEWELL  D  WIGHT  HILLIS,  P.P. 

Lectures  and  Orations  by  Henry  Ward 
Beecher 

Collected  by  Newell  Dwight  Hillis.     i2mo,  net  $1,20. 

It  is  fitting  that  one  who  is  noted  for  the  grace,  finish  and 
eloquence  of  his  own  addresses  should  choose  those  of  hia 
predecessor  which  he  deems  worthy  to  be  preserved  in  a 
bound  volume  as  the  most  desirable,  the  most  characteristic 
and  the  most  dynamic  utterances  of  America's  greatest  pulpit 
orator. 

JV.  L.  JVATKINSON,  D.D. 

The  Moral  Paradoxes  of  St.  Paul 

l2mo,  cloth,  net  $1.00. 

"These  sermons  are  marked,  even  to  greater  degree  than 
is  usual  with  their  talented  preacher,  by  clearness,  force  and 
illustrative  aptness.  He  penetrates  unerringly  to  the  heart 
of  Paul's  paradoxical  settings  forth  of  great  truths,  and  il- 
lumines them  with  pointed  comment  and  telling  illustration. 
The  sermons  while  thoroughly  practical  are  garbed  in  strik- 
ing and  eloquent  sentences,  terse,  nervous,  attention-com- 
pelling."— Christian  World. 

LEN  G.  BROUGHTON,  D.D. 

The  Prodigal  and  Others 

i2mo,  cloth,  net  $1.00. 

"The  discourses  are  vital,  bright,  interesting  and  helpful. 
It  makes  a  preacher  feel  like  preaching  once  more  on  this 
exhaustless  parable,  and  will  prove  helpful  to  all  young  people 
— and  older  ones,  too.  Dr.  Broughton  does  not  hesitate  to 
make  his  utterances  striking  and  entertaining  by  the  intro- 
duction of  numerous  appropriate  and  homely  stories  and  illus- 
trations.   He  reaches  the  heart." — Review  and  Expositor, 


ESSAYS,  STUDIES.  ADDRESSES 

PROF.  HUGH  BLACK 

The  New  World 

i6mo,  cioth,  net  $i.oo. 

"The  old  order  changeth,  bringing  in  the  new."  To  a  re- 
view of  our  changing  world — religious,  scientific,  social — Hugh 
Black  brings  that  interpretative  skill  and  keen  insight  which 
distinguishes  all  his  writings  and  thinking.  Especially  does  he 
face  the  problem  of  the  present-day  unsettlement  and  unrest 
in  religious  beliefs  with  sanity  and  courage,  furnishing  in  this. 
as  in  other  aspects  of  his  enquiry,  a  new  viewpoint  and  clari- 
fied outlook. 

S.  D.  GORDON 

Quiet  Talks  on  John's  Gospel 

As  Presented  in  the  Gospel  of  John.  Cloth,  net  75c. 

Mr.  Gordon  halts  his  reader  here  and  there,  at  some  pre- 
cious text,  some  outstanding  instance  of  God's  tenderness, 
much  as  a  traveller  lingers  for  refreshment  at  a  wayside 
spring,  and  bids  us  hearken  as  God's  wooing  note  is  heard 
pleading  for  consecrated  service.  An  enheartening  book,  and 
a  restful.  A  book  of  the  winning  Voice,  of  outstretched 
Hands. 

ROBERT  F.    HORTON,  P.P. 

The  Springs  of  Joy  and  Other  Addresses 

l2mo,  cloth,  net  $1.00. 

"Scholarly,  reverent,  penetrating,  human.  The  product  of 
a  mature  mind  and  of  a  genuine  and  sustained  religious  ex- 
perience. The  message  of  a  thinker  and  a  saint,  which  will 
be  found  to  be  very  helpful." — Christian  Intelligencer. 

BISHOP  WALTER  R.    LAMBUTH 

Winning  the  World  for  Chri^ 

A  Study  of  Dynamics.  Cole  Lectures  for  1915. 
l2mo,  cloth,  net  $1^25. 

This  Lecture-Course  is  a  spirited  contribution  to  the  dy- 
namics of  Missions.  It  presents  a  study  of  the  sources  of  in- 
spiration and  power  in  the  lives  of  missionaries,  native  arid 
foreign,  who  with  supreme  abandon  gave  themselves  utterly 
to  the  work  to  which  they  were  called. 

FREDERICK  F.  SHANNON,   P.P. 

The  New  Personality  and  Other  Sermons 

i2mo,  cloth,  net  $1.00. 

Mr.  Shannon,  pastor  of  the  Reformed  Church  on  the 
Heights,  Brooklyn,  is  possessed  of  lofty  ideals,  is  purpose- 
ful, more  than  ordinarily  eloquent  and  has  the  undoubted 
gifts  of  felicitous  and  epigrammatic  expression.  This  new  vol- 
ume by  the  popular  preacher  is  a  contribution  of  distinct  value 
to  current  lermonic  literature. 


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